US urges calm as Arab powers sever Qatar ties

Seven nations have severed ties with Qatar over terrorism while the United States, who said military operations will not be affected, has urged de-escalation.

File photo Source: AAP

Five Arab countries have cut ties with Qatar in a widening rift between the small Gulf state and its regional allies, who accuse Doha of supporting terrorist groups and Iran.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Yemen have closed their borders and called on Qataris to leave within two weeks, after accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism in Yemen and Syria.

The eastern-based government in Libya and the Maldives followed suit.

Qatar denounced the coordinated action as a violation of its sovereignty and a fabrication of "baseless allegations."

The severing of ties comes days after these countries were angered by comments attributed to Qatar's ruler in which he praised Iran.

Middle East expert says Qatar rift 'major and serious development'

Egypt gave the Qatari ambassador 48 hours to leave the country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said, while Egypt's charge d'affairs in Doha was given the same timeframe to leave Qatar.

Egypt and the UAE accused Qatar of supporting and funding Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UAE warned it will close its "airspace and seaports for all Qataris within 24 hours."

Bahrain said Qatar was undermining its security by supporting "acts of terror and financing armed groups associated with Iran" to carry out attacks on its territories.

Several airlines in the region suspended all flights to and from Doha, including Bahrain's national carrier, Gulf Air, and the UAE's Etihad Airlines and Fly Dubai.

Last month, the Qatari news agency quoted Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as saying that Iran is "a regional, Islamic power that cannot be ignored" and it would not be wise to fight against it.

Shortly after, the news agency said its website and Twitter account had been hacked by an "unknown entity," which was responsible for publishing a false statement attributed to the emir.

The statements prompted Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Cairo to block the Qatari news agency, Al Jazeera and several other Qatari websites.

Iran is the main regional rival of Saudi Arabia, which hosted the Arab Islamic summit where both Saudi King Salman and US President Donald Trump attacked Tehran for inciting unrest in the Middle East.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that Trump is committed to having conversations with the parties in the rift to "de-escalate" the situation.

"I do not expect that this will have any significant impact, if any impact at all, on the unified fight against terrorism in the region or globally," said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Sydney.

Qatar hosts more than 10,000 US and coalition personnel at Al-Udeid Air Base.

The US believes it is important that the Gulf Cooperation Council - which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - remains intact, Tillerson said, urging the countries to sort out their differences.

The Pentagon said US military operations are unaffected by the rift.

"US military aircraft continue to conduct missions in support of ongoing operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan," said Marine Corps Major Adrian JT Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, voicing "no plans to change our posture in Qatar."

Rex Tillerson calls for dialogue between gulf countries