MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On June 5, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic relations with Qatar. The states accused Qatar of supporting terrorist groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist movement, as well as of interfering in other countries' domestic affairs. Libya made a similar decision. Yemen cut diplomatic relations citing Doha's links with Houthis. The Maldives took the same step, citing extremism and terrorism concerns.
"We will not launch measures to escalate toward our brotherly nations. This has to be resolved around the discussion table in a transparent and frank way," Thani told Qatar-based Al Jazeera in an interview published Tuesday.
In the interview, which the broadcaster said was conducted Monday, Thani noted that Qatar's emir had received a call from the emir of Kuwait, who asked him to "postpone" an address to the nation in connection with the diplomatic crisis.
"There was a plan to deliver a speech to the people to discuss the latest developments, but his highness was contacted by the emir of Kuwait and he conceded to delay that speech tomorrow to give him time so that the emir of Kuwait could move to contain this crisis," the Qatari foreign minister said.
Thani said Doha "highly respects" Emir Tamim bin Hamad Thani's decision to postpone the speech.
"Qatar has not met this escalation with escalation. We have been trying to deal wisely with this. We have not responded to them on the same level," he stressed, referring to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other nations that moved to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry on Monday rejected the accusations of Doha's interference in other countries' domestic affairs and expressed regret over the decision of the Gulf States to cut off the diplomatic ties with it.
