Saudi Arabia gives Qatar two-day extension to consider demands

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt have agreed to a two-day extension of the deadline for Qatar to accept their list of demands.

The decision came after Kuwait, which has been acting as a mediator in the crisis, asked the countries to extend the deadline by another 48 hours.

The initial deadline expired Sunday.

“The four countries announce their approval to the Emir of Kuwait's request,” Saudi Arabia’s state news agency SPA said.

Qatar is expected to send in its response by Monday.

“The response of the four states will then be sent following the study of the Qatari government's response and assessment of its response to the whole demands,” SPA added.

The four Arab countries – which severed diplomatic and trade ties with Doha last month, accusing the Gulf state of supporting terrorism – have threatened further sanctions against Qatar if it failed to comply with the list of 13 demands.

Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir last week said that the demands are non-negotiable.

Qatar, meanwhile, has denied the charges that it supports terrorism. Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is reported to have said that the list of demands was “made to be rejected.”

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com