H.E. Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani expressed regret over the move by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE, in cooperation with Egypt, to sever ties with the State of Qatar, saying that it is an "unprecedented escalation" and stressing that the strategic choice of Qatar is to solve any crisis through dialogue.

"If there were real reasons behind the crisis, it would have been put on the table for discussion during the GCC meeting, but none of that was mentioned. It wasn't mentioned either during the American-Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh. There were no indications whatsoever," H.E. the Minister added.

H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said the escalation started when fake stories began to be circulated in the wake of the hacking of Qatar News Agency website, adding that such "fabrications were used as a basis for an unprecedented media escalation that reached advanced stages we never had in GCC countries, especially when there is an abuse of GCC countries by the media based in these countries" and falling to a low level of abuse, but "we will not fall to that level and will not meet the escalation with escalation."

H.E. the Foreign Minister added that the countries in question took "unilateral" and "unprecedented" measures that affected the citizens and family ties that connect GCC peoples. "At the end, there won't be any escalating measures in response from Qatar because it believes such disputes among fraternal countries should be solved at a dialogue table," the foreign minister said, adding that there must be a disclosure session to discuss points of view, identify the areas of difference and work to limit them while respecting each side's opinions.