More Gulf sanctions against Qatar on the way?

CAIRO – 28 June 2017: The Arab Gulf states are considering further economic sanctions against Qatar, such as pressuring trading partners who maintain commercial ties with the small Gulf state, Omar Ghobash, the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Moscow, told The Guardian on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and UAE issued 13 demands to Qatar on June 23, and threatened with unspecified consequences if the latter did not abide within ten days. The demands include cutting ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and closing Al Jazeera network.

“If Qatar is not willing to accept the demands, it is a case of ‘Goodbye Qatar, we do not need you in our tent anymore,’” Ghobash said.

“One possibility would be to impose conditions on our own trading partners and say, ‘if you want to work with us then you have got to make a commercial choice,’” he added, underlining that expelling Qatar from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is not the only available option.

Ghobash further stated that the coalition is willing to abide by the same monitoring system it has demanded for Qatar, to ensure that none of the states is secretly funding terrorist organizations.

“If we are to ask for the monitoring of Qatari financial transactions and its funding of terrorism then we would be open to the same idea,” the Emirati ambassador said. “This is not bullying. This is demanding a higher standard throughout the whole region,” he added.

Ghobash further warned that there might be an escalation “with more information,” stating that military escalation is not an option.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed an economic embargo on the state in early June over its “support for terrorism.”