Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani has said the country will not close down the Doha-bases al-Jazeera television network.
He made the statement in an interview with the 60 Minutes programme aired on America’s CBS Channel the Middle East Monitor reported on Monday.
He said: “We don’t accept any interference in Qatar’s sovereignty, Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, has warned.”
He said: “Our sovereignty is a red line. We don’t accept anybody interfering [with] our sovereignty.
“We’re not going to shut down al-Jazeera.”
Al-Thani told the US broadcaster, Charlie Rose, that “Iran is our neighbour.”
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“We have lots of differences and foreign policies with Iran, more than them [blockade countries],” the Qatari emir stressed, noting that “when those countries, our brothers, blocked everything. Blocked medicine, blocked food, the only way for us to provide food and medicine for our people was through Iran.”
Talking about the real reason for the blockade, he said: “They don’t like our independence…we want freedom of speech for the region…they think that this is a threat to them.”
On the efforts to resolve the Gulf crisis, the emir said: “Nothing is going to be above our dignity, our sovereignty. But we want it to end. I always say that.
“If they going to walk one meter toward me, I’m willing to walk 10,000 miles towards them.”
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar in early June, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.