Qatari Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has played a major role in making the country’s voice heard amidst the illegal blockade by neighbouring Arab countries.

Always holding firm, he was the first official to say that the initial ‘list of 13 demands’ from blockading countries was meant to be rejected. Thanks to Qatar’s bold stand, the four nations were forced to climb down from their initial demands to just six broad principles. 

Sheikh Mohammed, in a meeting with a group of journalists from The Washington Post, said that it had been ‘a very long two months’ for him and his colleagues. 

During the interaction, he expressed Qatar’s eagerness for conciliation and dialogue but painted his country as a victim of geopolitical bullying, cornered by larger neighbours who are seeking nothing short of the surrender of Qatari sovereignty.

“They’ve no right to impose such measures against a country,” said Sheikh Mohamed, adding that if the “blockading” nations are not held accountable for their illegal actions toward Qatar, it would set an unhealthy precedent for smaller countries elsewhere.

“This is a high risk for world order, not just for Qatar,” said the foreign minister, who said his country was caught in a baseless conflict fuelled by “disinformation”.

That includes what he suggested was the initial spur for the crisis — A hack of Qatar News Agency, now pinned on the UAE, which planted false quotes attributed to the Qatari Emir that helped trigger the spat with other  Gulf states.

Sheikh Mohamed said he was in close communication with American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and played down any rift between Tillerson and US President Donald Trump, whom he said had spoken with the Qatari Emir and indicated that Tillerson was the only one in charge of resolving the crisis, reported Gulf Times.

Sheikh Mohammed said it is regrettable that Saudi Arabia and the UAE made accusations against Qatar without any evidence, said Qatar Tribune.
The FM rejected accusations by Abu Dhabi that Doha was behind the killing of Emirati soldiers in Yemen. Sheikh Mohammed said these statements are not based on any evidence or logic.
He said contradictory statements were issued by UAE officials about the killing. 
Saudi citizen, Abdul Aziz al Muqrin, who was killed while carrying out a terrorist operation in Saudi Arabia, had never been granted Qatari nationality nor entered Qatar, the foreign minister said. Instead, he said the Qatari security forces have saved Saudi Arabia from many terror attacks.
He also refuted the accusation made by UAE that there is an account of $300bn to finance terrorism in Qatar Central Bank (QCB). He called on the blockade countries to stop such accusations.