UAE threatens Qatar to take list of harsh demands 'seriously' or else face bitter 'divorce'

Anwar Gargash, the UAE's foreign minister, issued the warning on Twitter more than two weeks into the oil-rich region's worst diplomatic crisis in years.

He also accused Qatar of leaking a document containing the demands by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, which have cut diplomatic ties with the gas-rich state accusing it of sponsoring terrorism.

Qatar strongly denies the charges.

The demands have not been officially unveiled but Doha-based al Jazeera news channel said overnight Thursday they were handed to Qatar by Kuwait, which is mediating in the crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition demands that Qatar closes down al Jazeera, downgrades diplomatic ties with Iran and shuts a Turkish military base in the emirate.

"The leak (of the demands by Qatar) is an attempt to abort the mediation in a childish act that we have grown accustomed to from our brother," Gargash tweeted.​

"It would be wiser that (Qatar) deal seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbours or a divorce will take place," he added.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia and the UAE led a severing of all links with Qatar for allegedly supporting groups, including some backed by Iran, "that aim to destabilise the region".

Egypt, Bahrain and other allies followed.

Saudi Arabia regularly accuses Iran, its regional rival, of interference throughout the Middle East.

As well as cutting diplomatic ties, Qatar's neighbours closed their airspace to Qatari carriers and blocked the small but gas-rich emirates' only land border, vital for its food imports.

"The brother (Qatar) must realise that the solution for its crisis lies not in Tehran or Beirut or Ankara or Western capitals or in media outlets, but in regaining the trust of its neighbours," Gargash said.

"It is not possible to accept that the brother continues as the Trojan horse" in the Gulf or as a funder and "platform for an extremist agenda", he added.