UAE Foreign Minister Slams Qatar for Asking Iran, Turkey for Help

The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash on Thursday slammed Qatar's decision to ask Iran and Turkey for help following several Gulf countries' decision to cut diplomatic ties with Doha.

DUBAI (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani said that Turkey would deploy its troops to Qatar for regional security reasons amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis in Doha's relations with several Arab states.

"The demand for political protection from two non-Arab states and military protection from one of them looks like a new tragic and comic chapter," Gargash posted on his official Twitter page.

The minister added that Qatar's behavior was "strange" as it "demands to respect country's sovereignty but looks for help abroad."

On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East. They were later joined by Libya, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania, with Jordan and Djibouti announcing they would lower the level of diplomatic contacts with Qatar. Senegal and Chad recalled their ambassadors from Doha.