Freeze Qatar's GCC membership: Bahrain

Qatar's Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) membership should be frozen until it meets the demands of the Arab quartet, a top Bahraini official said here on Monday.

Bahrain Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa also called for Doha to leave the GCC bloc or meet the demands set by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt, reports Xinhua news agency.

"If Qatar thinks it can delay and buy its time until the next summit of the GCC, then it is wrong. If the situation remains as it is, we will not attend.

"Bahrain will not attend the GCC summit if Qatar will participate because it is getting closer to Iran and deploying foreign forces, both of which are against the security of GCC countries," Shaikh Khalid said.

Kuwait is set to host the 38th GCC summit later this year.

"The right step is to freeze Qatar's membership until it responds to the demands of our countries."

The Arab Quartet on June 5 severed their diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar after accusing it of supporting extremists and funding terrorism.

It issued a list of 31 demands for Qatar to resolve the issue, that were rejected by Doha.

--IANS

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