Qatar diplomatic crisis: All the latest updates

The latest news after Arab Gulf countries cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and suspended Doha-bound flights.

4:45pm – Trump tweets on Qatar for the second time

• US President Donald Trump has said on Twitter: “So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”

3:45pm – Philippines bars workers from travelling to Qatar

• The Philippine government temporarily has suspended the deployment of Filipino workers to Qatar, the labour secretary said. Silvestre Bello said there was no plan yet to repatriate the more than 200,000 Filipino workers in Qatar.

3:06pm – US President Donald Trump tweets

• For the first time since the crisis unfolded, Trump has weighed in. His tweet: “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!”

12:20pm – Saudi suspends Qatar Airways license

• According to the Saudi press, transport authorities in Saudi have cancelled Qatar Airways license to operate in Saudi Arabia.
• The authorities also decides to close all Qatar’s Airways offices in the Kingdom.

11:50am – BeIn sports network appears blocked in UAE

• Authorities and telecommunications companies did not provide further details. BeIN acquired Al Jazeera’s sports channels in 2013.

11:20am – UAE demands guarantees before mending Qatar ties

• “We need a guaranteed roadmap to rebuild confidence after our covenants were broken,” UAE state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said on Twitter.
• Gargash accused Doha of turning to “money and media and partisanship and extremism” in a series of tweets early on Tuesday. Qatar has denied the allegations.

10:00am – Qatar stocks rebound in early trade

• Qatar’s stock market rebounded in early trade on Tuesday after plunging 7.3 percent on Monday.
• The Qatari stock index was up 2.7 percent after half an hour of trade; it rose as much as 3.2 percent at one stage.

9:20am – Aluminium exports from Qatar blocked

• Exports of aluminium from the Qatalum metals plant in Qatar have been blocked by the UAE, Norway’s Norsk Hydro said.
• Norsk Hydro owns a 50-percent stake on the Qatalum joint venture, which produces more than 600,000 tonnes per year of primary aluminium to customers in Asia, Europe and the United States.
• “Most Qatalum shipments normally go through the large Jebel Ali port in UAE, but this port looks to be closed for all Qatar shipments from Tuesday morning,” Norsk Hydro said in a statement.

8:23am – Qatar Airways suspends flights to UAE, Egypt, Bahrain

• Qatar Airways has cancelled flights to Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates from Tuesday until further notice, the airline said on its website, a day after it had suspended flights to Saudi Arabia.
• The airline said passengers holding a confirmed Qatar Airways ticket to any of the four countries between June 5 and July 6 are permitted to rebook their flights up to 30 days after their current departure date.
• Qatar Airways said its offices will continue to operate as normal in affected countries until further notice.

8:00am – Erdogan holds talks on lowering tensions

• Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with the leaders of Qatar, Russia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on lowering tension, presidential sources said.

  “The importance of regional peace and stability was underlined in the talks, as well as the importance of focusing on the path of diplomacy and dialogue to lower the current tension,” according to the sources.

1:30am, Tuesday – Qatar’s foreign minister interview

• “For us, the strategic choice of the state of Qatar is to solve any dispute through dialogue,” Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tells Al Jazeera.
• “Regarding the reasons for this escalation, honestly, we don’t know if there were real reasons for this crisis”, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tells Al Jazeera.
• “There were no indications [of a crisis] whatsoever,” in the latest GCC meeting, or the American-Islamic-Arab summit.
• He said the emir of Kuwait was traveling to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to assist in “containing the crisis”.
• Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will give a speech to the nation on Tuesday to address the situation.
• He added there’s a big question mark over the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
• “There was an unprecedented escalation from the [Gulf] mass media.. but Qatar has not met this escalation with escalation”.

10:40pm – Kuwait calls for restraint

• Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah has called Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and “urged him for restraint and not to take any measure that could escalate” the situation in the Gulf, according to the state-run KUNA news agency.

8:30pm – Saudi banks asked to sell Qatari Riyals

• Saudi Arabia’s central bank asks local banks to sell Qatari Riyals and not to buy anymore of it, local media and Reuters report.

8:30pm – Turkey is seeking to resolve Gulf spat

• Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “actively involved” in efforts to resolve the diplomatic spat between Qatar and its neighbours, according to Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus.

8pm – US military has “no plans” for change

• The US military’s Central Command says it has “no plans to change our posture in Qatar” amid a Gulf diplomatic crisis. Major Adrian J T Rankine-Galloway said in a statement that US military aircraft continue to fly missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria from Qatar’s Al-Udeid air base.

7:30pm – Egypt airspace to close on Tuesday

• Egypt’s ministry of civil aviation has announced that the country’s airspace will be closed to Qatari flights starting Tuesday 04:00GMT.

6:30pm – Israel praises anti-Qatar moves

• Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defence minister, has praised the measures against Qatar, saying “there is no doubt that this opens very many possibilities of cooperation in the struggle against terror”.

6:25pm –  Saudi shuts Al Jazeera office 

• Saudi Arabia has shut down Al Jazeera Media Network’s local office, according to Saudi state media

5:40pm – No Qatari vessels allowed in Saudi ports

• The Saudi Ports Authority has notified shipping agents not to receive vessels carrying Qatari flags or ships that are owned by Qatari companies or individuals.

5:10pm – Egypt suspends air and sea links

• Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement the country was suspending air and sea links to Qatar, citing national security.

4:40pm – Turkey expresses ‘sorrow’

• Turkey is ready to help however it can to bring the disputes to a manageable level, said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaking at a joint press conference in Ankara.
• Cavusoglu also said: “Turkey sees the unity and solitary among Gulf states as our own unity”.

4pm – Iran’s food ‘can reach in 12 hours’

• Food shipments sent from Iran can reach Qatar in 12 hours, said Reza Nourani, chairman of the union of exporters of agricultural products.

3:30pm – UAE port to turn away Qatar-bound vessels

• UAE’s Port of Fujairah says all vessels flying the flag of Qatar or destined for Qatar will not be allowed to call at the port.

3:30pm – Iran calls for dialogue

• Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi was quoted on the ministry’s website as calling for a “clear and explicit dialogue” among the feuding nations. Iran says rising tensions among its Arab Gulf neighbours threaten the interests of everyone in the region.

3:15pm – Maldives cuts ties with Qatar

• Decision made because of the Maldives “firm opposition to activities that encourage terrorism and extremism”.

3:10pm – Egypt recalls ambassador

• Egypt’s foreign ministry says it has given the Qatari ambassador in Cairo 48 hours to leave the country and has ordered its own envoy in Doha to return home, also within two days.

2:50pm – Libya’s Haftar cuts ties with Qatar

• The faction led by Khalifa Haftar, one of three rival governments in Libya, announced it is cutting ties with Qatar.
• Haftar’s foreign minister accuses Qatar of “harbouring terrorism”.

2pm – Saudi closes border with Qatar

• Saudi Transport authority confirmsimmediate border closure with Qatar by land and by sea.

1:30pm – Saudi border line up

• Reports of trucks being lined up across the border in Saudi Arabia unable to enter Qatar.

1:20pm – Updates from FIFA

• Football’s world governing body says it remains in “regular contact with Qatar”.
• FIFA issued a short statement saying it has spoken with “the Qatar 2022 Local Organizing Committee and the Supreme Committee for Delivery Legacy handling matters relating to the 2022 FIFA World Cup”.
• It said: “We have no further comments for the time being”.

1:15pm – Air Arabia flights suspended from Tuesday

• Air Arabia, a low-cost airline based in the United Arab Emirates, said it is suspending flights to Qatar along with other Emirati airlines over a growing diplomatic crisis.
• Air Arabia says its flights will be suspended from Tuesday “until further notice”.

12:10pm – Saudia flights suspended from Monday

• Saudi Arabian Airlines says it is suspending flights to the Qatari capital, Doha.
• The airline, also known as Saudia, posted on Twitter that it would be halting flights from Monday morning, without elaborating.

11:05am – FlyDubai flights cancelled from Tuesday

• Dubai’s budget carrier FlyDubai says it has canceled its flights to Qatar amid a diplomatic dispute between it and other Arab countries.
• The carrier said on Monday that, starting Tuesday, all flights would be suspended. It offered no other details.
• FlyDubai’s decision follows that of Emirates and Etihad in canceling flights to Doha.

10:45am – Yemen cuts ties with Qatar

• Yemen’s internationally recognised government has cut relations with Qatar and says it supports the decision by the Saudi-led coalition to end Qatar’s participation in the war on the Houthis in Yemen. Qatar has been part of the coalition since March 2015.

• The government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi says it severed ties with Qatar in part over is support of extremist groups in Yemen “in contradiction with the goals announced by the countries supporting the legitimate government”.

10:20am – Emirates flights cancelled from Tuesday

• The Dubai-based airline Emirates says it is suspending flights to Qatar amid a growing diplomatic rift.
• Emirates said on its website on Monday flights would be suspended until further notice starting Tuesday.

10am – US urges GCC unity

• US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Sydney: “It is important that the GCC remain a unified [front]”.
• Tillerson does not expect the rift “to have any significant impact, if any impact at all, on the unified fight against terrorism”.
• Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East.

9:55am – Qatar’s official reaction

• Qatar says there is “no legitimate justification” for four Arab nations to cut diplomatic ties.
• Qatar also says the decision is a “violation of its sovereignty”, vowing to its citizens it will not affect them.

8:35am – Etihad suspends flights from Tuesday

• Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad said it is suspending flights to Qatar from June 6 “until further notice”.
• Etihad said its last flights would leave early Tuesday morning.
• Etihad gave no reason for the decision. It is the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates.

6:10am – UAE, Egypt cut ties with Qatar

• The United Arab Emirates and Egypt have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.

• Both the UAE and Egypt made the announcement on their state-run news agencies within minutes of each other.

6am – Saudi cuts ties with Qatar

• Saudi Arabia says it is cutting diplomatic ties to Qatar and it has pulled all Qatari troops from the ongoing war in Yemen.
• Saudi Arabia made the announcement via its state-run Saudi Press Agency early on Monday. It appeared to be timed in concert with an earlier announcement by Bahrain similarly cutting ties.
• The dispute between Qatar and the Gulf’s Arab countries escalated recently over a hack of Qatar’s state-run news agency. It has spiraled since.

5:50am, Monday – Bahrain cuts ties with Qatar

• Bahrain says it is cutting diplomatic ties to Qatar amid a deepening rift between Gulf Arab nations.
• Bahrain’s Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement early on Monday saying it would withdraw its diplomatic mission from the Qatari capital of Doha within 48 hours and that all Qatari diplomats should leave Bahrain within the same period.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies