Iran and Turkey back Qatar in its confrontation with Saudi Arabia and its allies

Share:

ERDOGAN ROUHANIIranian President Hassan Rouhani voiced support on Sunday for Qatar in its confrontation with Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia and its allies, saying a “siege of Qatar is unacceptable”, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of support for Islamist militants, an allegation Qatar denies.

They have since issued 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television, curbing relations with Iran, shutting a Turkish base and paying reparations.

“Tehran stands with the Qatari nation and government… We believe that if there is a conflict between regional countries, pressure, threats or sanctions are not the right way to resolve differences,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as telling Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in a telephone call.

“The siege of Qatar is unacceptable to us… The airspace, land and sea of our country will always be open to Qatar as a brotherly and neighboring country,” Rouhani said.

Doha, whose neighbors have closed their airspace to Qatari flights, has said it was reviewing the list of demands, but said it was not reasonable or actionable.

Shi’ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia accuse each other of subverting regional security and support opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Rouhani’s statement came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the demands Saudi Arabia and its allies as being “against international law”.

Erdogan dismissed calls for Turkey to close a military base in Qatar and said a wider list of demands issued by four Arab states was an unlawful intervention against the Gulf state’s sovereignty.

In his strongest statement of support for Qatar in the nearly three-week-old crisis centered on the Gulf state, Erdogan said the call to withdraw Turkish forces was disrespectful and that Doha – which described the demands as unreasonable – was taking the right approach.

“We approve and appreciate the attitude of Qatar against the list of 13 demands,” Erdogan, speaking outside a mosque in Istanbul, said. “…This approach of 13 demands is against international law because you cannot attack or intervene in the sovereignty of a country.”

Bahrain’s foreign minister blasted on Sunday the outside interference stressing it would not solve the problem.

“It is in the interest of these powers to respect the existing regional order which is capable of solving any issue that may arise,” Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said in a message on Twitter, without naming Turkey or Iran

Qatar along with Turkey, whose ruling AK Party has its roots in Islamist politics, backed a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt before it was overthrown in 2013. The Arab states have demanded Qatar cut any links to the Brotherhood and other groups they deem to be terrorist, ideological or sectarian..

Erdogan collapsed

Erdogan has said he is in a good condition after suffering a “minor health problem” during prayers marking Eid al-Fitr early on June 25.

“I have a small condition about my blood pressure, related to my diabetes,” Erdogan told reporters in front of the Mimar Sinan Mosque after prayers in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district.

“Thank God, I’m well now,” he added.

Hürriyet reporter Aziz Özen, who was following Erdoğan, said he saw the president collapse at 6 a.m. before the start of the prayers.

“The president arrived at the mosque at 5:20 a.m. After exchanging Eid greetings with citizens, he entered the mosque and started waiting. The fact that he started leaning toward the left while sitting at around 6 a.m. drew attention from those around him. Bodyguards quickly ran to the scene and then the doctors came,” said Özen.

“The president was taken to another part of the mosque on a stretcher. Reporters were not allowed near the mosque until Erdoğan had spoken to them after the prayers,” he added.

REUTERS, HURRIYET

Share:

Comments

13 responses to “Iran and Turkey back Qatar in its confrontation with Saudi Arabia and its allies”

  1. The enemies of the Arabs are finally showing their true colors.
    I would have expected that Turkey will step in as a mediator . Looks like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Ajami Ayatollas are 2 sides of the same coin

    1. wargame1 Avatar
      wargame1

      It is one way better that they expose themselves and take their stance.

      1. Ilami-Gilaki Avatar
        Ilami-Gilaki

        According to your own Allah and Qoran (9:97), Arabs are the worst hypocrites.

        1. No one can beat the Persians in Hypocrisy. Iran is pretending to be a friend of Qatar , but the Qatari people know extremely well that Iran is their number one enemy and would occupy country or any other Arabian Gulf country at any moment if it wasn’t for the US military presence in the Gulf

          1. Ilami-Gilaki Avatar
            Ilami-Gilaki

            Except that the Qoran disagrees. Even the Bible and the Torah have extremely negative views of “Arabs”.

    2. Ilami-Gilaki Avatar
      Ilami-Gilaki

      Qatar isn’t an Arab country.

      1. I feel sorry for you Ajami , You don’t even know the basics about the Arab countries. Now I know why they call Persians Ajam

        1. Ilami-Gilaki Avatar
          Ilami-Gilaki

          No one is an Arab and those “countries” are just provinces of the Ajam Empire.

      2. Hannibal Avatar
        Hannibal

        They are French!

        1. Ilami-Gilaki Avatar
          Ilami-Gilaki

          Qataris are descendants of the ancient Delmunites. Delmunites had a civilization when France was stil a cow pasture and Arabs didn’t even exist.

          1. Hannibal Avatar
            Hannibal

            Delmunites were descendants of Lucy. She just climbed down from a tree.

          2. The Iranians on the other hand are the descendants of Dalmanites. LOL

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *