State Department: US 'mystified' by continued embargo of Qatar

Sheikh Mohammed's demand came as a U.A.E. minister warned that Qatar's diplomatic isolation could "last years".

Imports from Asia account for 32 per cent of Qatar's total imports.

Ms Nauert's comments suggest United States frustration is building, especially toward the Saudi alliance that Mr Trump has praised.

Al-Kaabi also said Qatar was still importing whatever it needed despite the boycott, and investors had full confidence in the country, with foreign investments in Qatari oil and gas industries having reached 250 billion riyal ($66.67 billion).

The comments mark an escalation in U.S. efforts to intercede in the conflict, which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson launched in earnest last week, at President Donald Trump's request.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia and allied states cut all ties with Qatar, pulling their ambassadors from the emirate and ordering its citizens to repatriate by June 19. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt said Friday they were restricting travel for Qatari owned or registered flights and that there were "no limitations" to worldwide airways.

"Qatar has evidence that certain iPhones originating from countries laying siege to Qatar were used in the hack", Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri told reporters in Doha.

Qatari banks have been weak because of concern about increases in their funding costs after other Gulf countries imposed sanctions on Qatar early this month, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

QNB has a good capital base, diversified funding sources and one of the best cost-to-income ratios so the standoff isn't impacting the bank's ability to get funding from the worldwide market, the official said.

The group, which raises more than $140 million a year from Christian donors in the United States for Israelis in need, launched an ad campaign against Qatar because of its support for Hamas and its harboring of Hamas leaders. In their conversations with him, he said, the others had "pointed" at Qatar as a source of terror financing. They said they would take a hard line on funding... "It also counts Israel as an ally", he said, stressing that "it would be an act of great foolishness to now take sides and risk current friendships and tolerances". "We are starting to see risky spillovers already both in the broader region but also in Africa and in Asia, there are worrying signals", she said in Luxembourg.

Hundreds of Qataris keep camels in desert areas in eastern Saudi Arabia during winter months to train and breed them for races and beauty contests - customs seen as an important link to a vanishing nomadic past. He also called on Qatar to sit at the dialogue table with its brothers to remove these fears and resolve the dispute peacefully between them.