Saudi foreign minister says Gulf states alone can solve Qatar row

Russian state-sponsored hackers have been accused of meddling with elections in many countries including the US, Germany and Netherlands.

Doha has denied rumours that its military has been put on high alert on the Saudi border following a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours.

Qatar's credit rating was lowered on Wednesday, in the latest fallout from the decision by a group of neighbouring countries to cut diplomatic and trade ties.

Analysts have raised the prospect of a palace coup in Qatar, a hereditary monarchy with a history of such changes in leadership.

"Intelligence gathered by the USA security agencies indicates that Russian hackers were behind the intrusion first reported by the Qatari government two weeks ago, United States officials say".

Rivalry with Iran - with which Saudi Arabia is engaged in a series of proxy wars across the region - looms over the dispute and a spark for the current crisis was US President Donald Trump's visit to the region.

"It is trying to describe this as an issue about the independence of their foreign policy, and it is not", Gargash said.

Qatar denounced today that the ultimatum that was given by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain to its citizens to leave those countries is a violation of human rights and requires UN intervention.

In a readout of the call, the White House said that the two leaders discussed the critical goals of preventing the financing of terrorist organizations and eliminating the promotion of extremism by any nation in the region.

Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told CNN that FBI investigators have confirmed that the agency was hacked and a fake article was inserted into the agency's system.

"The president offered to help the parties resolve their differences, including through a meeting at the White House if necessary", Trump´s office said after the call. Some banks in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have already begun cutting their exposure to Qatar, other people said on Wednesday.

The stories included statements of support to Iran by the emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Around 8,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed at al Udeid in Qatar, which is used as a staging ground for US-led strikes on the Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq. A few days after the story was published, Saudi Arabia and several other allies severed relations with the nation.