Qatar Airways said Sunday its net profits rose by nearly 22 percent in the last financial year that ended in March, before the diplomatic fallout with its Gulf neighbours.
The biggest diplomatic rift in years among the rich states of the Gulf has disrupted Qatar's imports of food and other materials, although its finance minister has played down the economic toll of the confrontation.
"A lot of people think we're the only ones to lose in this", Al Emadi said.
He said European countries, including France, were trying to ease tensions in support of Kuwait's mediation efforts, and he believed that the United States, which was also backing mediation, wanted restrictions on Doha to be lifted.
Abdalrahman bin Omeir Al Nuaimi, a Qatari accused of financing terror groups including Al Qaeda branches in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, also posted messages on Twitter condemning the Saudi moves against Qatar.
He also heaped praise on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, calling him a "good friend" that Qatar had gotten to know well during his time at the helm of Exxon Mobil.
He went onto say that the move was in violation of the 1944 convention on air transport, charged with overseeing and regulating global aviation.
Qatar announced Monday that it had launched direct shipping services to ports in Oman in a bid to bypass the Gulf "blockade".
"We still have no clue what is behind these measures", he said.
It was a message to the Russians
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in NY last month. Trump has repeatedly denounced any accusations of Russian interference in the election to help him become president.
Separately, Qahtani told AFP that the diplomatic pressures and other restrictions on Qatar were in fact really meant to make Doha fall into line behind Saudi Arabia in Riyadh's regional ambitions.
But the outlook for Qatar Airways is uncertain after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut travel and diplomatic ties with Qatar last week, accusing it of funding Islamist extremist terrorism, charges it denies.
"Our top priority in Qatar is to end this unlawful blockade imposed against us", he said from the British capital, London.
"Following the sanctions ... on Qatar, IranAir has so far transported food and vegetables to this country by four flights", Shahrokh Noushabadi, head of public relations at Iran's national airline, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Monday the two sides should resolve their differences through negotiations.
The Taliban opened a "political office" in Qatar in 2013, but the Qatari government later shut it down.
Iran and Turkey have also already shipped food to Qatar.
Last week, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed ties with Qatar.
Comments