Qatar continues to remain defiant, seeking to appease Iran and terrorist groups at the cost of its brotherly countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab countries. Instead of facing common challenges together with other regional countries, Qatar has allied with the enemies of the Arab world, creating a rift in Arab Gulf unity. The Qatari stand has shocked even seasoned analysts. They are baffled as to what Qatar gains by taking such a stand. It has sided with forces that seek to topple Arab and Muslim regimes, while at the same time, siding with Iran, Israel and terrorist groups. Doha is far away from reality, failing to realize it is a small and vulnerable Gulf state. It wants to pitchfork itself into the world of the powerful -- an age-old ambition which it refuses to let go, even if at the cost of its relationship with the neighboring countries. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad in a statement to the official news agency of his country has revealed the contradictions in Doha's policies. He criticized the Gulf states, and praised the countries which are hostile to the region. He said: "It is not wise to be anti-Iran; as an Islamic state it does not pose any threat to its neighbors." He also stressed that Doha's relationship with Tehran is good. During his talks with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, he asserted, "Our relationship with Iran is deep-rooted, historical and strong. We want to make this relationship even stronger than before." Sheikh Tamim further declared that his country's relationship with Tel Aviv is "excellent and is developing." At the same time, he was critical of Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt, calling them to introspect when they criticize Doha for supporting terrorism. Qatar knows well how much Iran hates the Arab Gulf region where Doha is located. It knows the aspirations and hate nursed by the rulers of Tehran against everything that is Arab Gulf and Sunni. Despite that, Qatar is insisting that it would strengthen its relationship with Tehran and would take it forward, harming the interests of Arab and Gulf states. It also ignored the call of Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al- Khalifa to maintain a distance from Iran and stop supporting terrorist groups. The minister said, "The conditions are clear. Much patience was shown to Qatar when it deviated from the common GCC path. Qatar must correct its course, and return to what it had pledged before and bring the relationship back to normal." The patience about which the Bahraini foreign minister talked goes back to several years. It is now clear that the Gulf countries have run out of patience due to Qatar's excesses. Cutting of relations was only a culmination of this. In 1995, Saudi Arabia and other brotherly countries had made continued efforts to urge Doha to abide by its commitments and agreements. But the Qatari rulers continued to break its international commitments and violate the agreements which it had signed under the aegis of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The history of Qatar shows that it had always pursued duplicity in its policies. Openly, it supports the agreements and decisions of the Gulf countries and signs them. But secretly, it works against them. It declares that it is fighting terrorism and is part of the coalitions which are fighting Daesh and Al-Qaida. But in reality, it allies with these groups and supports them. It uses its media to spread their message and broadcast their statements to the world. Eventually, the patience of Gulf has worn off. There are now sanctions against Qatar which may be even more severe if its leaders do not accept their mistakes against their own community. Qatar needs to correct its ways before the situation escalates and gets out of hand.
