Alwaght-Saudi Regime’s King Salman will not attend a July 7-8 summit of the Group of 20 global economies in Hamburg, Germany.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday the Saudis had notified Berlin that the 81-year-old monarch would not participate in the annual meeting of G20 leaders. No reason was given for the abrupt cancellation but sources in Riyadh say the diplomatic standoff with Qatar is one of the reasons for the cancellation.
This comes as Qatar delivered its response to a list of 13 demands from Saudi-led Arab regimes that cut have ties with it and imposed a land, air and sea embargo sparking a major diplomatic crisis in the Persian Gulf region.
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar's foreign minister, was received by Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah on Monday to hand over a letter from Qatar's emir, according to state-run Kuwait News Agency.
Kuwait is mediating in the dispute. The content of the letter has not been released.
Qatar's response will be the focus of a gathering in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Wednesday of foreign ministers from the four blockading countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The list of demands by the Saudi-led regime includes call on Qatar to end support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the closure of Al Jazeera television network, a downgrade of diplomatic ties with Iran and the shutdown of a Turkish military base in the country.
The four Arab regimes agreed to extend until late on Tuesday a deadline that expired on Sunday for Doha to comply with the list of demands.
Qatar on Thursday said the list contained some demands impossible to meet because the underlying accusation was untrue.
Qatar's foreign minister has already said that Doha would not meet the demands, saying the list "was meant to be rejected".
Meanwhile, Qatar's Defense Minister Khalid al Attiyah said on Sunday country is ready to defend itself if necessary.
"I hope we don't come to a stage where a military intervention is made but we always stand ready," adding that, "We are here to defend our country."
He also revealed that Qatar's neighbors are plotting to topple its emir and warned the Saudi-led Arab states that, historically, Qatar had proven it was not an easy country to be "swallowed up".
