It’s fine to cut Qatar links for 2 more years: Saudi FM

CAIRO – 6 September 2017: Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said that there is no harm in case the Qatar-Gulf crisis continues for two more years, Reuters reported.

Nations should never tolerate terrorism, and countries whose media adopt terrorist operations should never be accepted, Jubeir stated according to Sky News channel.

“Qatar is not under siege. We only announced that we will not deal with the peninsula and will ban it from our airspace,” Jubeir added.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates broke off relations with Qatar in June, accusing the tiny emirate of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region.

Concerning the war in Yemen, Jubeir said that the Saudi-led Arab coalition acts within the framework of international laws. “We executed procedures to deliver humanitarian aid to the country,” he added.

The Yemeni civil war erupted in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthis ousted the country’s government. Saudi Arabia led a coalition in 2015 to reinstall the legitimate Yemeni government back to power.

The U.N. human rights office reported Tuesday, according to AFP, that the death toll in Yemen since the beginning of the war has topped 5,000 civilians at least, including 1,184 children. United Nations WFP Executive Director David Beasley stated Monday that Saudi Arabia should fund all the necessary aid to Yemen, or stop war, or just do both.

Considering early Iranian announcements about a probable settlement with Saudi Arabia due to the success of the 2017 Hajj, Jubeir described it as funny. Tehran destabilizes the region and Iran should adjust its policies if it really wants a settlement, he added.