Dubai: UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that an interview given by Qatar’s former prime minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani contained nothing new and reflected weak arguments.

“There is nothing new in the interview by Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassim with Russia Today,” Gargash posted to his 905,000 followers on Twitter.

“The interview reflected a familiar disconnect between practices of Shaikh Hamad who was among the architects that led to Qatar’s current dilemma and a vague theoretical discourse. The argument was prosaic and the discourse was weak due to the lack of self-criticism and assessment.”

In the interview, Shaikh Hamad told Russia Television that the crisis was going on “because those who started it don’t understand politics.”

“The Gulf dispute is at present intended to remain without escalation and without solution. The failure of the mediator to solve the Gulf crisis is due to the conflict of positions in Washington and the intransigence of those who started it,” he said.

He attributed the resignation announced last week of Retired US general Anthony Zinni, the Trump administration’s envoy tasked to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis, to the existence of “too many people running his mission.”

“I think Zinni offered ideas, but… the problem is that the secretary of state was running the file and so was [Trump’s son-in-law and advisor] Jared Kushner. Also there were many parties who were interested in the case for one reason or other,” Shaikh Hamad was quoted as saying.

On June 5, 2017, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt severed their diplomatic, trade and travel relations with Qatar after they accused it of harbouring extremists and interfering in their domestic affairs.

The Quartet issued a list of 13 demands and asked Qatar to respond to them. However, Doha dismissed the accusations and rejected the demands, resulting in a standoff that has not been resolved despite intense mediation efforts led by Kuwait and supported by the US.

Saudi officials have often stressed that Qatar knew what measures it should take to resolve the crisis and that they were willing to wait for decades for the Qatari move.

Shaikh Hamad, who was also his country’s foreign minister before he was replaced, has given several interviews explaining the Qatari stance.

Gargash has often charged that Qatar was not addressing the core issues and should engage in introspection as a first step to reach a solution to the crisis.