Qatar’s former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani accused the siege nations of hiding their intentions — to create a dispute with Qatar — during the Riyadh Summit.

The former top official also said the hack of the Qatar News Agency (QNA) was nothing but a pretext for them to impose the blockade, reported The Peninsula. 

“Hacking of QNA was just a pretext for these countries to impose blockade and there was no need for hacking because everything was pre-planned,” he told Qatar TV’s talk show The Truth.

“The difference between the current dispute and earlier ones between Qatar and the blockading countries is that earlier, whatever the dispute was, there was some respect. They didn’t abuse leaders and we didn’t reach to this level. We usually find solutions to our problems and disputes,” he added.

The former Prime Minister expressed his surprise that when HH The Emir Sheikh Tamim was present in Riyadh for the Summit, which the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the US president also participated, there was no sense that there was a problem, and the intention of the siege countries during the summit was unclear, Gulf Times reported him as saying.

He was also all praise for the way HH The Emir has handled the crisis so far.

“In this crisis we know our friend and our enemy. And the manner in which HH The Emir managed the crisis shows his wisdom. He managed the crisis with serenity and power. HH The Emir is of a generation we’re proud of and proud to hand over the power to this generation,” he said.