Top 5 most ridiculous things said in *that* Saudi press conference

After Qatar swiftly rejected a list of 13 demands put forward by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in order for the Gulf allies to drop their attempts to isolate Qatar, the four countries' foreign ministers gathered in Cairo for a press conference to announce their reaction.

They said they wouldn't impose further sanctions on Qatar, but had some very awkward moments while doing so.

Here are the top five most bewildering moments of the press conference:

5. They admitted that Trump told them to stop being so naughty

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry revealed that the four countries turned to US President Donald Trump for instructions - which ulitmately influenced their decision to not impose any further sanctions on Qatar.

Trump told the four to "to negotiate constructively to resolve the diplomatic crisis" rather than to exasperate it with new sanctions.

4. 'It hurts us to treat Qatar this way, it really does,'  says Saudi foreign minister

Adel Al-Jubeir stood up, with a straight face, and said that the four countries were upset about beseiging Qatar. Which wasn't patronising at all...

3. 'Anyone who deals with Iran must be punished,' the Saudi foreign minister added

This may not seem so ridiculous if Riyadh could stand by its threats. Let's not forget that Kuwait, the country mediating this crisis, invited Iranian President Rouhani to their country in February. Oman too. And of course, the United States and the five next most powerful Western nations all worked to come to a deal with Iran over its nuclear capabilities in 2015.

2. 'We are facing a crisis with Qatar, but we have a bigger problem with terrorism,' says the UAE foreign minister

But havent they been arguing all this time that Qatar was the sole source of terrorism and the whole point of this blockade was simply a massive counter-terrorist operation?

Or did they not want to try to explain their claim that Qatar was funding both Al-Qaeda and the Houthis in Yemen - two ideologically disparate groups who are at real physical war with each other - at the same time?

1. 'Why doesn't Qatar want us to smile?'

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates actually asked this, and, yeah, we're just as confused as anyone else...


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