Qatar says demands by blockade states not "reasonable"

By Furkan Guldemir and Mehmet Nuri Ucar

DOHA (AA) – Qatar said Saturday a list of demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies to end their blockade was not "reasonable" and "actionable".

Sheikh Yusuf Bin Ahmed, the director of the government's Communication Office, said the blockade was meant to "limit Qatar's sovereignty and interfere in its foreign policy", according to the official QNA news agency.

"We are reviewing these demands out of respect for ... regional security and there will be an official response from our ministry of foreign affairs," he said.

Bin Ahmed said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had recently called upon Saudi Arabia and the other countries to produce a list of grievances that was "reasonable and actionable."

"This list does not satisfy that criteria," he added.

On June 5, five Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen -- abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Doha, for its part, strenuously denies accusations that it supports terrorism, describing the attempts to isolate it as “unjustified”.

Qatar said early Saturday it has received a list of demands by the four countries to end their blockade on the Gulf country.

According to foreign media, the 13-point list of demands includes the closure of Al Jazeera television, downgrading ties with Iran and extraditing "terrorists".

The four countries have given Doha a 10-day deadline to meet the demands.