7:45pm - Turkey's Erdogan underlines support for Qatar

  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has underlined his country's support for Qatar and its anger at the demand for the closure of a Turkish military base in Doha. He said the demand shows "a lack of respect toward us and Qatar".
  • Erdogan told the German weekly Die Zeit on Wednesday that "what is being done with Qatar runs counter to international law". 

6:15pm - Saudi-led bloc voices regret over Qatari reply to demands

  • Four Arab states imposing a partial blockade against Qatar have voiced "regret" over Doha’s "negative reply" to their demands, according to a joint statement.
  • The statement was issued after the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain met in Cairo.
  • Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a joint press conference that further steps against Qatar will be taken at the appropriate time in line with the international law.
  • He added that economic boycott against Qatar will remain until the country changes its policies for the better.
  • The minister also said he hoped that Turkey remained neutral in the crisis, while he called Iran "the biggest supporter of terrorism".

6:15pm - Trump calls Egypt's Sisi over Gulf crisis

  • US President Donald Trump has called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss the ongoing dispute between Qatar and its Arab neighbours, according to the White House. 
  • Trump urged Egypt and other countries that imposed a blockade on Qatar "to negotiate constructively to resolve the dispute".
  • Trump "reiterated the need for all countries to follow through on their commitments at the Riyadh Summit to stop terrorist financing and discredit extremist ideology", the statement said. 

5:25pm - Kuwait FM meets German counterpart

  • Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah met on Wednesday with the visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. 
  • The foreign minister lauded Germany's support of Kuwait's mediation in resolving the regional crisis. For his part Gabriel reiterated his country's support of Kuwait, while urging restraint in order to reach a solution that satisfies all parties.

3:05pm - Qatar FM calls for dialogue to resolve Gulf Crisis

  • Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar's foreign minister, said his country is going to do "whatever it takes to protect our people", even as he urges more dialogue to resolve the crisis. 
  • Sheikh Mohammed said that whatever Saudi Arabia and its allies take against Qatar should be based in international law.

3:55am - Saudi-led group confirms receiving Qatar's response

  • "The four countries have received the Qatari response via Kuwait before the end of the additional deadline, which came at the request of HH Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait," said Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egyptin a joint statement on Wednesday.
  • "Qatar will receive a reply in due time," added the statement, which was reported by the Saudi News Agency.

1:05am - Arab intelligence chiefs meet in Cairo

  • Heads of intelligence from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain held a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, Egyptian state news agency MENA said.
  • MENA, citing "informed sources", did not provide details of the meeting, which took place one day before foreign ministers from the four countries were due to meet to discuss the Gulf dispute.

12:13am - AU chair says Saudi FM's Ethiopia visit not related to GCC crisis

  • Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, unexpectedly attended a summit of African Union (AU) leaders in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
  • When asked about Jubeir's visit, Alpha Conde, the AU chairperson, insisted the Saudi diplomat's trip was not an attempt to shore up support for a Saudi-led embargo against Qatar.
  • "No, he didn't come here to discuss the crisis in the GCC," Conde said, using an acronym for the Gulf Cooperation Council. "He came to discuss cooperation because Africa is against financing terrorism. We want to eradicate all sorts of terrorism. This is why we said we will cooperate with Kuwait in mediating this [Gulf] crisis."
04 July 2017

11:02pm - Qatar FM: List of demands unrealistic and not actionable

  • Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar's foreign minister, said "the fight against terrorism" is "a top priority" for his country.
  • "It is an issue of national security, not only to the state of Qatar but to the entire region," he told reporters in Qatar's capital, Doha, after a meeting with Sigmar Gabriel, his German counterpart.
  • "However, the unjust siege imposed by the other states under the pretext of combating terrorism is totally false and fabricated," he added
  • The Qatari diplomat also said that the demands put to Doha by Saudi Arabia and its allies were impossible to meet.
  • "The list is unrealistic and is not actionable," he said. "It's not about terrorism, it's talking about shutting down the freedom of speech."

8:20pm - Gabriel: Qatar's sovereignty must be respected

  • The foreign minister of Germany praised Qatar's "restraint" in responding to a blockade imposed by Arab states amid the worst regional diplomatic crisis in years.
  • "There are boundaries that you should not cross, that the sovereignty of each of country and the respect of this national sovereignty has to be there," Sigmar Gabriel told reporters in the Qatari capital, Doha, after a meeting with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
  • "It has to be a basic condition and when that is there, even the most difficult questions can be talked about," added Gabriel, concluding a tour of the Gulf region, which also included stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Aran Emirates. 

5:10pm - German FM in Qatar for Gulf crisis talks

  • Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's foreign minister, is visiting Qatar as part of a Gulf tour to resolve the regional diplomatic crisis.
  • He is talking to journalists along with his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Qatar's capital, Doha. Here are some excerpts from the press conference.
  • German FM: Gulf disunity could weaken entire region
  • German FM: Sovereignty of all nations needs to be respected
  • German FM: Best solution to Gulf crisis is deal to end support for armed groups
  • German FM: Would be good if other Gulf states accepted the invitation to dialogue. Conflicts like this can only be resolved at the negotiating table
  • German FM: There are plenty of ways to prevent the crisis escalating
  • Qatar FM: We are fully prepared to engage in dialogue and examine grievances
  • Qatar FM: Enough with the smear campaign and false accusations

12:30pm - UAE says it is still waiting on Qatar response to demands

  • UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdulla bin Zayed Al Nahayan said that the Arab countries blockading Qatar were still waiting for a response to their demands via mediator Kuwait. 
  • "I think it is premature to talk about extra sanctions ... this depends on what we will hear from our brothers in Kuwait," the foreign minister said at a press conference with his German counterpart in Abu Dhabi.  

12:15pm - German FM sees Gulf standoff as chance to tackle 'terror finance'

  • German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the entire Gulf region has the opportunity to strengthen the fight against "terrorism funding".
  • Gabriel is meeting officials in Abu Dhabi, before travelling to Doha to meet Qatar's foreign minister later on Tuesday.

11:15am - Qatar Petroleum CEO: Company 'will not be affected' by crisis

  • The CEO of state-run Qatar Petroleum has said the company "will not be affected by the siege". 
  • Saad al-Kaabi was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday where he announced the company would be increasing its natural gas output by 30 percent by 2024.

7:00am - UK's May calls for 'de-escalation' of GCC crisis in call with Saudi crown prince

  • In a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, British Prime Minister Theresa May urged "all sides" of the ongoing crisis to "take urgent steps to de-escalate the situation and restore [GCC] unity", her office said in a statement on Monday.
  • The statement also said that the "UK remains committed to supporting this process."