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Saudi Arabia has been accused of trying to engineer a change of power in the neighboring gulf state of Qatar.

Qatar has endured a four-month economic embargo imposed by a group of fellow Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia. The alliance has accused Qatar of allying with Iran in the support of terrorism.

Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told CNBC Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is currently trying to destabilize the leadership of Qatar.

"We see (Saudi) government officials talking about regime change. We see officials inciting the people to go and protest their government, so it is about regime change," he said.

"We see a country that is bringing back the dark ages of tribes and putting them together in order to create a pressure on connected tribes in Qatar," the minister added.
Al Thani said the intention of the alliance of blockading countries was in fact not to curtail terrorism, but more to "disrespect and bully."

"It is nothing to do with stopping financing terrorism or hate speech while they are doing the same by promoting incitement against my country, promoting a regime change in my country," he said.

He added that as air space is now blocked to Qatari aircraft that offer strategic support, those planes can only now use one path, north toward Iran.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain have cut all ties, including transport links, with Qatar, accusing it of allying with Iran in support of terrorism. Doha denies the accusation.

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