With the modern glass and steel buildings of the skyline in Doha, Qatar, serving as the backdrop, a traditional wooden fishing dhow is seen in port in February.
After Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE cut ties to Doha on Monday, accusing it of supporting militants and Iran, regional allies followed suit and denounced domestic foes as Qatari stooges, undermining reconciliation efforts by foreign powers.
"Iran represents a regional and Islamic power that can not be ignored and it is unwise to face up against it", Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani reportedly said at a military ceremony in May. With the US also signalling support for the Saudi move, Qatar may have no other option.
Given the fast pace of attacks and the harvest of deaths, most of humanity are on edge over terrorism, so not a few eye brows were raised on Tuesday when leaders of the Gulf countries found their brother, Qatar, guilty of terrorism. Qatar long has denied funding extremists.
Qatar hiring Ashcroft, who was attorney general during the September 11 attacks and then helped push through the Patriot Act, appeared aimed at appeasing Washington as several Gulf nations try to isolate it. Officials in Qatar, home to a major US military base, and Ashcroft's firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran and a Saudi-led coalition that includes Qatar support different sides in the civil war.
"This is not about regime change - this is about change of policy, change of approach", state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash said.
They issued the list hours after Qatar said it would not "surrender" and rejected any interference in its foreign policy. "Qatar and its big rivals are fighting each other, but indirectly and on other people's territory", said Yemeni analyst Farea al-Muslimi.
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The UAE on Wednesday announced a similar decision, warning that offenders could face between three and 15 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 dirhams ($136,125, 120,715 euros) should they criticise the decision to boycott Qatar.
Qatar must also tread lightly with Iran, given their shared ownership of the world's largest natural gas field, South Pars in the Persian Gulf.
The Government of Qatar, which has been facing criticism across the world, has hired ex- U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft, in order to rebut the accusations made by U.S. President Donald Trump and its Arab neighbors that it supports terrorism. The al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar hosts the command center which co-ordinates flights against the Islamic State - a campaign which very much depends on a sense of unified Sunni goal. He said only 16 percent of Qatar's food imports came through the now-closed land border crossing with Saudi Arabia "and it has been replaced already". In 2011, during the Arab Spring, Qatar backed the group and the people protesting against then-President Hosni Mubarak, who was in power for almost three decades.
What seems clear is that the Gulf states want to beat their brother to line and they are ready to go to all lengths including diplomatic isolation, brutal blockade, starvation and if necessary, economic strangulation.
The four Arab countries named in a statement 59 people, including Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi, and 12 entities, among them Qatari-funded charities Qatar Charity and Eid Charity.
The blacklist is the latest allegation by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Qatar since the crisis erupted late last month.
"No one has the right to intervene in our foreign policy", Sheikh Mohammed said.
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