Qatar faces possible further sanctions by Arab countries as a deadline to accept a series of demands from its Gulf neighbours, including closing down the Al-Jazeera television network, passes on Sunday night.
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Saturday had effectively rejected the 13 demands tabled 10 days ago by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain to end the diplomatic standoff, the Guardian reported.
The demands were made by the Saudi-led allies last month over allegations of Qatari support for terrorism, which it denies. Doha called the demands an attack on its sovereignty.
The four nations severed their diplomatic ties with Qatar, closed their airspace to its jets and announced an economic blockade that included the closing of Qatar's border with Saudi Arabia -- its sole land link to the rest of the world and a key route for food imports.
Al-Thani said that the demands on Al-Jazeera, closing a Turkish military base and cutting relations with Iran had been framed "to be rejected".
"This list of demands is made to be rejected. It's not meant to be accepted or ... to be negotiated," he said in Rome, where he has been attempting to build western support.
"The state of Qatar, instead of rejecting it as a principle, we are willing to engage in [dialogue], providing the proper conditions for further dialogue."
The four anti-Qatar states have only hinted at how they will respond if their ultimatum is spurned, reported the daily. UAE diplomats suggested they will either suspend Qatar from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the regional trading bloc, or seek to impose sanctions on countries that continue to trade with Qatar.
UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash played down suggestions of a military intervention.
"The alternative is not escalation but parting ways," he said, suggesting forcing Qatar out of the six-member GCC is at present the most likely outcome.
The body was formed in 1981 by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain in the wake of Iran's Islamic revolution and the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war.
Turkey increased its military presence in Qatar in support of the emirate and delivered food supplies to the country along with Iran, the Guardian reported.
In one of the first signs an extended blockade may have a significant impact on the country, some British banks ceased trading in the Qatari riyal for retail customers.
The US, with 10,000 troops in Qatar in its main Middle East base, was split in its response between the White House and Department of State.
US President Donald Trump had moved to rebuild Saudi ties and at a fundraiser last week again said he wanted Qatar to stop funding terrorism.
But the State Department had tried to take a more nuanced role as mediator, working alongside Kuwait.
--IANS
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