Photo Credit: Twitter/@saifaalthani
Doha: The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will appear on “CBSNews 60 Minutes” with Charlie Rose today (Sunday, October 29) evening at 7pm ET/PT (Qatar time it will be on October 30, Monday 2am).
According to the preview published by CBS on their website the Emir told Rose that President Trump offered to bring him and his Arab neighbors together at a Camp David meeting aimed at ending the blockade. The Emir said he had no response from the countries imposing the blockade.
"The president showed he is committed to find an end to this crisis…he suggested that we come and I told him straightaway, 'Mr. President, we are very ready, I've been asking for dialogue all along,'" he says. "It was supposed to be very soon this meeting, but I don't have any response [from the other countries]," CBSNews quoted from the interview.
The Emir tells Rose, "Iran is our neighbor…we have lots of differences and foreign policies with Iran, more than them. But let me tell you one thing, Charlie. When those countries, our brothers, blocked everything. Blocked medicine, blocked food, the only way for us to provide food and medicine for our people was through Iran. And when they talk about terrorism, absolutely not. We do not support terrorism."
The real reason for the blockade, he says, is "They don't like our independence…we want freedom of speech for the region…they think that this is a threat to them," he says.
When Rose asks whether Qatar will bend to their demands to shut down Al Jazeera and sever ties with Iran, the Emir responds, "Our sovereignty is a red line. We don't accept anybody interfering [with] our sovereignty… No, we're not going to shut down Al Jazeera."
But the Emir is more than willing to sit down with his antagonists. "If they going to walk one meter toward me, I'm willing to walk 10,000 miles towards them," he tells Rose.
