Iran Focus
London, 5 Jul – The Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the UN has said that Qatar and Iran are trying to ‘create chaos’ in the Middle East through terrorism and interference in the affairs of other nation states.
Ambassador Abdullah Bin Yahya Al Mu’allemi, the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in New York, released a statement in which he stressed that both Qatar and Iran have supported terrorist groups in the Middle East for at least the last 20 years.
He stressed that their support for terrorism and destabilisation efforts in other nation states presented a threat to the whole world.
Doha and Tehran are close allies and Al Mu’allemi explained that this was despite, and maybe even because of, the other’s support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and their plots against other countries.
Boycott
According to the Saudi Press Agency, Al Mu’allemi also noted that the collaboration between the two Middle Eastern countries was one of the reasons for the boycott of Qatar, by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt.
The four Arab nations believe that this boycott will better protect their security and urge Qatar to end its support for terrorism.
Al Mu’allemi stressed that Qatar’s continued support for terrorism has made Doha a haven for terrorists. He said that terrorists find a fertile environment there, in which to plot against their own countries.
This boycott has closed Qatar’s land borders and effectively restricted them to receiving imports and exports via sea or air (which are less safe and more expensive). In response, Iran sent them food deliveries via plane; further illustrating the relationship between the two.
Al Mu’allemi insisted that this was the last resort for the four countries. Qatar was given several opportunities, most recently in 2013 and 2014, to stop supporting terrorism and interfering in the internal affairs of other Middle Eastern countries but Qatar continued.
Late last month, Saudi Arabia and its allies gave Qatar a 13-point ultimatum in order to lift the sanctions.
Their demands included that drastically limit its collaboration with the Iranian Regime, align with the rest of the Arab World, remove Turkish troops from Qatar, end contact with terror groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and submit to monthly external compliance checks for a period of 10 years.
Qatar was given 10 days to respond or face unspecified consequences, but as of yet, they have not responded and may not be taking the demands seriously.
