Nasser al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to Australia has warned that any military action against Qatar would destroy the entire Gulf region and would be a kind of madness, stressing that “Qatar is not up for grabs".
Qatar has a “leadership and people who are attached to their leadership," he said in an interview with Al-Arabi channel.
Al-Khalifa said Qatar has yet options that will not be used against its neighbours who have imposed a blockade. "The international community will not allow any escalation in the region," he said adding that everyone (in the region) is losing in this confrontation.
He added that however others are benefiting from this crisis which has opened the eyes on many issues in the member countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council.
Referring to the present dispute, he said that the crisis was created from nothing, stressing that the security of Qatar was a matter of concern to many countries in the world. "Qatar supplies energy to Japan, Korea, China, India, Italy, Spain and Britain. Qatar is not a country isolated from the world and has extensions and interests."
On the rumours making rounds about the establishment of a military base in Bahrain by the blockading countries , al-Khalifa said this has nothing to do with Qatar and is part of Bahrain's right to host any base on its territory. "We are not unaware of what is happening around us, and we will not be ahead of events, but we hope that the aim of any military base is not to launch operations against Qatar.”
He pointed out that Qatar's hosting of a Turkish military base came under the right of the state’s sovereignty and was not a subject for discussion except between Qatar and Turkey.
Al-Khalifa added that “the countries of the blockade have American, French, Australian, New Zealand and British military bases on their lands. So, why would they object to an issue (between Qatar and Turkey?)"
Al-Khalifa said Qatar has yet options that will not be used against its neighbours who have imposed a blockade.