Islam Times - Qatar Emir to Attend Persian Gulf Summit amid Rift with Saudi Arabia

Islam Times - The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will attend a crucial summit of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council in Kuwait despite a widening rift with neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Speaking on Sunday, Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Emir had accepted the invitation to attend, amid the region's worst political crisis in years.

"I will attend the ministerial council tomorrow and the Emir will attend the summit," said the minister. The annual summit of Persian Gulf monarchs will be held in Kuwait on Dec. 5 and 6 at a time when Qatar and Saudi-led regimes are involved in a worsening dispute threatening to tear apart the regional block.

Early June, The Saudi-led regimes severed relations with Qatar and imposed a blockade against it, accusing Doha of funding "extremism". Qatar has vehemently rejected the allegations as "baseless".

On June 22, the group issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera TV, limiting ties with Iran, and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade.

Qatar rejected all the demands, denouncing them as attempts to violate its sovereignty.