TEHRAN – As four Arab neighbors convened in Cairo to weigh stricter measures against Doha, Qatar's foreign minister said his country needed strong and constructive relationship with Iran.

Speaking at the Chatham House international affairs think-tank in London, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Qatar and Iran had to live alongside each other, and noted the two countries share a gas field.

Iran and Qatar share the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, the world’s biggest gas deposit.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions against the country. They closed land, sea and airspace to the country.

Saudi Arabia is the only country that shares land border with Qatar.

The Arab countries have demanded Qatar curtail its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, shut down the pan-Arab al Jazeera TV channel, close down a Turkish military base and downgrade its ties with regional arch-rival Iran.

The political row has brought Doha under huge pressure.

"What we've done in the last few weeks is (to) develop different alternative for ways to ensure the supply chain for the country not to be cut off,” Abdulrahman al-Thani said, adding, “The blockading countries were demanding that we have to surrender our sovereignty to end the siege, something which ... Qatar will never do.”

Tehran and Ankara have rushed to help Doha. Both countries have been sending food shipments to Qatar since the start of the row.

In a message last month President Hassan Rouhani assured the Qatari emir that he could count on Iran for food stuff and using Iran’s airspace for Qatari planes. Rouhani had further stressed that “controlling tensions and resolving issues through dialogue would be the best [path forward].”

Also, the Turkish president has voiced support for Qatar, saying he intends to "develop" ties with the embattled state hit by sanctions from Saudi Arabia and its allies.  

"Let me say at the outset that we do not think the sanctions against Qatar are good," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.

"Turkey will continue and we will develop our ties with Qatar, as with all our friends who have supported us in the most difficult moments," he added in reference to last year's failed coup.

Also, in a sign of support for the tiny Arab country, Turkey's parliament approved a legislation, allowing its troops to be deployed to a Turkish military base in Qatar.

PA/PA