Officials from Qatar and its Gulf Arab neighbours embarked on a quickening round of shuttle diplomacy, with the Qatari foreign minister due in Moscow and Brussels and Bahrain's King visiting his ally Egypt for talks on the crisis.
The designations point to the fact that despite repeated calls from the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the worldwide community, Qatar remains a permissive jurisdiction for terrorism financing.
Qatar dismissed allegations of support for Islamist militancy on Friday after four Arab states, which cut ties with Qatar this week, blacklisted as terrorists dozens of people with alleged links to Qatar.
Throughout the interview, Sheikh Mohammed repeatedly denied that Qatar funded extremists and terrorist groups, the main reason given for this week's moves against it.
For Iran to be a "normal state", it must respect worldwide law, he said.
Qatar also backs the Palestinian political and militant group Hamas and the global Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, which Saudi Arabia and Egypt oppose.
He also rejected "a military solution as an option" to resolving the crisis, and said Qatar could survive "forever" despite the measures taken against it.
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Since Saudi Arabia and other nations cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday, triggering the worst diplomatic crisis in the Gulf in years, the USA military has insisted that it would not affect US military operations in the region.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has approved legislation for increased military cooperation with Qatar, including a deal for the deployment of Turkish troops there.
Sheikh Mohammed told The Associated Press on Thursday that Sheikh Tamim "is not going to leave the country while the country is in blockade", in effect turning down the mediation offer.
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen have accused Qatar of harboring extremists and backing Riyadh's regional rival, Iran.
Saudi Arabia has also closed its land borders with Qatar, geographically isolating the tiny Gulf state.
Russian hackers are believed to have breached Qatar's state news agency in order to plant a fabricated news story that may have influenced the diplomatic crisis in the Middle East, CNN reported on Tuesday.
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