Countries say ties will not be restored until Gulf state breaks links with extremists while UAE threatens jail for sympathisers

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have increased the pressure on Qatar, insisting diplomatic and economic relations would not be restored until the tiny Gulf state breaks all links with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Iran.

The Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, who is due in Berlin for talks with his German counterpart on Wednesday, said it was up to Qatar, which denies funding extremist groups, to take action to relieve a block on air, sea and land links with its neighbours.



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“Nobody wants to hurt Qatar. It has to choose whether it must move in one direction or another direction. We took this step with great pain so that it understands that these policies are not sustainable and must change,” he told reporters, He claimed Qatar was undermining the Palestinian Authority and Egypt in its support of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We want to see Qatar implement the promises it made a few years back with regard to its support of extremist groups, to its hostile media and interference in affairs of other countries.”

The UAE foreign minister, Anwar Gargash, threatened more curbs if necessary and said Qatar needed to make “iron-clad” commitments to change policies on funding militants. The country also threatened anyone publishing expressions of sympathy towards Qatar with up to 15 years in prison and barred Qatari passport- or resident visa-holders entry.

“Strict and firm action will be taken against anyone who shows sympathy or any form of bias towards Qatar, or against anyone who objects to the position of the United Arab Emirates, whether it be through the means of social media or any type of written, visual or verbal form,” Gulf News quoted the UAE attorney general, Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, as saying.

The anti-Qatar alliance has been emboldened by Donald Trump, who threw his weight behind the Saudi-led effort to isolate the emirate in a surprise move on Tuesday. He suggested Qatar was funding extremism, but later spoke by phone with Saudi King Salman and stressed the need for Gulf unity.



The US defence secretary, James Mattis, also spoke to his Qatari counterpart to express commitment to the Gulf region’s security. Qatar hosts 10,000 US military personnel at al-Udeid, the US regional military headquarters and base for offensive operations against Isis in Syria and Iraq.



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The German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, called for restraint in an interview with Handelsblatt before his Saudi meeting. “Apparently, Qatar is to be isolated more or less completely and hit existentially. Such a ‘Trumpification’ of relations in a region already susceptible to crises is particularly dangerous,” he said.



Ordinary Qataris were meanwhile loading up on supplies in supermarkets, fearing shortages. Officials told Reuters on Wednesday it was in talks with Turkey and Iran to secure food supplies by air and the government had large strategic food reserves in Doha. There is enough grain in the markets to last four weeks, officials believe.



The crisis, the worst to hit the Gulf states in 30 years, has its origins in rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Support for Saudi Arabia from Trump is believed to have empowered Riyadh to act against its neighbour, which it believes has been too supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood and not sufficiently opposed to Iran.



The final straw appears to have been reports in the Qatari media last month that its ruler had made a speech that appeared friendly to Iran. The Qataris deny the emir made the remarks and blamed hackers.



CNN on Tuesday reported that US intelligence officials believe Russian hackers planted the false news story. FBI experts visited Qatar in May to analyse an alleged cyberbreach, the US broadcaster said.



Qatar’s government said the news report on 23 May attributed false remarks to the emirate’s ruler that appeared friendly to Iran and Israel, and questioned whether Trump would last in office.



The Qatari foreign minister said the FBI had confirmed the hack and the planting of fake news. “Whatever has been thrown as an accusation is all based on misinformation and we think that the entire crisis is being based on misinformation. It was started based on fabricated news, being wedged and being inserted in our national news agency, which was hacked and proved by the FBI.

Moscow on Wednesday denied the allegations. “We’re getting tired of reacting to unsubstantiated banalities,” Andrei Krutskikh, a Kremlin adviser on cybersecurity, told the Interfax news agency. “Whatever happens it is hackers. It’s a stale claim and as ever, there is zero evidence, and conclusions are drawn before the incident is even investigated,” he said.