There Are Big States with Small Minds

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, told Egyptian media on Tuesday that the issue of the Qatar blockade is “very trivial” and that “the entire population of Qatar was smaller than a Cairo street”, Middle East Monitor reported.

Bin Salman stressed that the dispute with Qatar could be long-lasting, comparing it to the US’ embargo of Cuba imposed 60 years ago.

Speaking in Belgium on Thursday, Al Thani said bin Salman was using “outdated terms” when comparing the [Persian] Gulf crisis to US-Cuba relations.

“Countries are not measured by their size,” Al Thani stressed, adding that “we may be a small country, but we have minds and hearts that care about our citizens.”

Denouncing the Saudi officials’ claims that they are not concerned with the [Persian] Gulf crisis, the Qatari diplomat said “Saudi officials are preoccupied with the Qatar issue. The evidence is that they bring the issue up in all their meetings and statements.”

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar last June, accusing Doha of “supporting terrorism”, while Qatar denies the accusations.