Qatar defiant as Saudi extends deadline to resolve Gulf rift
Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states have extended the deadline for Qatar to accept a list of demands or face further sanctions by 48 hours
A deadline was approaching Sunday for Qatar to accept a series of demands made by several Arab states to lift a de facto blockade, with no indications Doha was ready to comply
Saudi Arabia and three allies boycotting Qatar have agreed to a request by Kuwait to extend by 48 hours Sunday's deadline for Doha to comply with a set of demands, according to a joint statement on Saudi state news agency SPA.
Their demands include Doha ending support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the closure of Al-Jazeera television, a downgrade of diplomatic ties with Iran and the shutdown of a Turkish military base in the emirate.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt gave Doha 10 days to comply with their 13 demands, with the ultimatum due to expire at the end of Sunday.
The 48-hour extension was in response to a request by the Kuwaiti emir, who is acting as mediator in the Gulf crisis.
Kuwait's state news agency KUNA did not state whether Qatar had rejected the ultimatum as was widely expected, but Qatar said it would give its response to the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, on Monday.
The letter will be handed over by Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
"The list of demands is made to be rejected," Sheikh Mohammed said Saturday. "Everyone is aware that these demands are meant to infringe the sovereignty of the state of Qatar," he said at a news conference in Rome.
"The state of Qatar... is rejecting it as a principle," he said, adding: "We are willing to engage in providing the proper conditions for further dialogue."
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on it on 5 June, accusing it of supporting "terrorism". The allegation is rejected by Doha.
After more than two weeks, the four countries gave Doha a 10-day ultimatum, which expired on Sunday night, to comply with a 13-point demand list in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures.
The demands submitted by Saudi Arabia and its allies included that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera network, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.
In the list, the four Arab countries also demand that Doha sever all alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups, including Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and ISIS, and pay an unspecified sum in compensation for what they claimed to be "loss of life and other financial losses caused by Qatar's policies".
