Qatar emir: Blockading countries seek regime change

Speaking to US television programme 60 Minutes, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said it was "obvious" that the Saudi-led quartet is trying to force a change of leadership in Qatar.

"History as well tells us, teaches us, they tried to do that before, in 1996 after my father became the emir," he told host Charlie Rose in a wide-ranging interview that aired on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed a land, sea and air embargo, accusing it of supporting "terrorism". Doha denies the allegation.

"They don't like our independence, the way how we are thinking, our vision for the region," Sheikh Tamim told CBS' 60 Minutes.

"We want freedom of speech for the people of the region and they're not happy with that, and so they think that this is a threat to them."

Sheikh Tamim became emir in 2013 at the age of 33, after his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, transferred power to him.

Sheikh Hamad had taken power in 1995, while his father was on an overseas trip. He survived a 1996 coup attempt and in the years that followed Qatar experienced rapid economic growth, helped by its vast natural gas reserves.

The months-long diplomatic dispute began about two weeks after a late May Arab-Islamic-American summit in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, which was attended by US President Donald Trump and representatives of 55 Arab and Muslim-dominated countries.

Among them was both the Qatari emir and the leaders of the countries that subsequently blockaded Qatar.

"It was a shock," said Sheikh Tamim, referring to the blockade.

"A few weeks before that, we were meeting, all of us together, in one room, including President Trump," he told CBS News' 60 Minutes.

"We were discussing terrorism, financing terrorism, and nobody brought any concern from those countries. Nobody told me anything."

When asked about the presence of Taliban in Qatar, Sheikh Tamim said that they were asked and allowed to set up offices in the Qatari capital of Doha at the request of the United States.

"The reason why they came here, it's not because we asked them to come," he told 60 Minutes.

"America asked … They wanted to have dialogue so they asked us if we can host them here and have the dialogue. So we hosted them here, this is the reason why they're here," added Sheikh Thamim.

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