Saudi Gazette report

DUBAI — The stance of the United Arab Emirates toward the Qatar crisis is crystal clear, said Anwar Gargash, the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, on Friday.

Reiterating the UAE’s position on the Qatari blockade, Gargash tweeted: “Our position on the Qatar crisis is transparent and crystal clear. We are part of a quad group that has a united stance. We were forced to take deterrent measures to protect the four countries and safeguard their security.”

“In this context, we have absolute confidence in the wisdom and firmness of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in managing this crisis in the common interest,” the UAE minister added, extending his country’s complete support to Saudi Arabia on the issue.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain cut ties cut off their relations with Qatar three years ago, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Last month, Gargash made similar remarks following unsuccessful Kuwaiti efforts to resolve the crisis.

“Saudi Arabia is handling the crisis with Qatar. We have full faith in how Saudi Arabia handles that crisis,” he had said.

"What we know very clearly is that the recent proposal by Saudi Arabia, which was in my opinion very firm and very good and really would have set the stage for a more stable decade to come, apparently the Qataris refused it."

"So clearly, we are back to where we were,” he had added.