Amid Qatar crisis, China tells Iran that Gulf stability is best

Saudia Arabia and other autocratic Sunni states have been at odds for years with the energy-rich emirate of Qatar, which hosts the largest US air base in the Middle East.

"It is a blockade!"

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the other hand, has approved sending troops to an existing Turkish base in Qatar as a sign of support. His comments were a forceful endorsement of this week's move by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to cut off ties to Qatar.

"We have not asked for mediation, we believe this issue can be dealt with among the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council", he told a news conference with his German counterpart during a visit to Berlin that was broadcast on Saudi state television. "Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"

Arab countries have put 12 organizations and 59 people they say are associated with energy rich Qatar on a terror sanctions list.

Meanwhile, Qatar's neighbors kept up a drumbeat of criticism and warnings.

In September 2014, Clinton wrote in an email that "Qatar and Saudi Arabia. are providing clandestine financial and logistical support to ISIL [Daesh] and other radical Sunni groups in the region," he noted.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani struck a defiant tone three days after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other nations cut diplomatic ties as well as air, land and sea access to his nation. They need to make a decision; they can't have it both ways.

He said Qatar, as an independent nation, also had the right to support groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the fact that its neighbors view it as a threat to their hereditary rule.

Qatar has backed Islamist movements but vehemently denies supporting terrorism.

Among the individuals named is Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric considered a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group.

But a Qatari official said on Thursday the emir would not be accepting the invitation.

Doha is a major worldwide travel hub, but flagship carrier Qatar Airways now flies increasingly over Iran and Turkey after being blocked elsewhere in the Middle East.

"Qatar has to redress its path and has to go back to all previous commitments, it has to stop media campaigns and has to distance itself from our number one enemy Iran".

The Saudi newspaper al Watan published what it called a list of eight "extremist organisations" seen as working to destabilise the region from Qatar, including Qatar's Al Jazeera news channel, that were targeted by Gulf Arab states. The repercussions of cutting ties have been the canceling of flights to and from Qatar, shutting down border gates, freezing the activities of banks operating in Qatar and calling on all of the country's citizens and ambassadors to leave the respective Arab states as soon as possible. But in a sign of the damage, Standard & Poor's downgraded Qatar's debt on Wednesday as its riyal currency fell to an 11-year low.

Qatar said it led the region in attacking what it called the roots of terrorism, giving young people hope through jobs, educating hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and funding community programs to challenge extremist agendas.

In a measure that cemented earlier UAE restrictions on air transport, the country's General Civil Aviation Authority said it had closed the air space for all air traffic to and from Doha until further notice. Riyadh denied any involvement.