‘Our patience has limits’: UAE minister issues warning over Qatar ties

JEDDAH: UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash has warned Qatar that patience and tolerance “have their limits.”
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have expressed displeasure with Doha after its state media published purported remarks by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani criticizing the US-Muslim world stand against Iran at the recent Riyadh summit.
Without mentioning Qatar by name, Gargash said it should change its behavior with its neighbors and open a new page.
“The right path is through openness, credibility and confidence,” he wrote on Twitter.
“In a turbulent region, there is no alternative to Gulf unity, and Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin,” he tweeted on Friday.
He warned that the alliance of Gulf Arab states was facing a major crisis and said there was an urgent need to rebuild trust.
“The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are passing through a new sharp crisis that carries within it a great danger,” Gargash said.
“Fending off sedition lies in changing behavior, building trust and regaining credibility,” he added, without mentioning Qatar by name.
Gargash said that the road to resolving any crisis “between someone and his brothers was to have true intentions, abide by commitments, change the behavior that had caused damage and turn a new page.”
“Our position and our stability is in our unity and to have honest intentions,” he added.
Gulf countries have made no official comment on the rift, which emerged after US President Donald Trump’s first visit to Saudi Arabia and his meetings with Arab and Muslim heads of state since he took office.