[Robyn Kriel, Cnn Correspondent:] Hell, I'm Robyn Kriel. This is CNN News now. Anti-G20 protests rage in Hamburg, Germany for a second straight evening. And tonight, you're looking at live pictures where there's 11
[Christiane Amanpour, Cnn Anchor:] Tonight, my interview with Qatar's foreign minister. This week, the deadline caused demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies, but the minister tells me that live is aggressive and insulting.
[Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar Foreign Minister:] We are not going to comply with anything against the international law. We are not going to have something which just signaling out Qatar.
[Amanpour:] Also ahead, the former U.N. Climate Chief Christiana Figueres tells me why she thinks Donald Trump maybe cutting off his nose to spite his face. Good evening everyone and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. President Donald Trump has been attending the G20 summit and his second international trip in six weeks. The last one included a visit to Saudi Arabia and told with almost all the regional leaders. Since then, a huge divide has emerged amongst U.S. allies. Qatar is being diplomatically isolated by four of its neighbors and they now threaten the stability of the Persian Gulf region. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt say they'll continue to hold Qatar on an economic blacklist saying that Doha gave "a negative response to their 13 point ultimatum." The quartets of Arab nations accused Qatar of funding terrorism and destabilizing the region.
[Unidentified Male:] It was disappointing, but the response from Qatar was totally is void of any substance and it was a denial of taking any steps or measures that would respond to the region and its requests of the four countries.
[Amanpour:] Yet in new report by the U.K.'s respected conservative think tank, the Henry Jackson Society says Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of funding extremism here in Britain. I spoke to the Qatari Foreign Minister here in London for the latest on where this standoff will lead. Foreign minister, welcome to the program.
[Al Thani:] Thank you very much.
[Amanpour:] What is Qatar's response to these demands?
[Al Thani:] Mainly, if you are looking at the demands, there are accusations that Qatar is supporting terrorism. There are shutting free speech, shutting the media outlet, expelling people, oppositions, violating the international law by withdrawing citizenship from some of the people and return them back home. So there are a lot of demands which are against the international law.
[Amanpour:] And are you saying you're not going to comply?
[Al Thani:] We are not going to comply with anything against the international law. We are not going to have something which just signaling out Qatar. And if any situation will be provided, it should be provided for the entire.
[Amanpour:] Is there any of the demands that you see has any room for compromise, for negotiation, for you accepting the demand, shutting Al Jazeera.
[Al Thani:] Shutting Al Jazeera, this is something out of the question.
[Amanpour:] Throwing out the Turks Turkish base.
[Al Thani:] You can ask me the demands one by one. But let me tell you that any issue of touching the sovereignty of the country, we are not going to discuss.
[Amanpour:] You have called this the siege, a clear aggression and an insult. Is that what you feel about what's happened?
[Al Thani:] It is an aggression. It is an act of aggression and insult for any independent country, for any sovereign country. When you are imposing a blockade, a political blockade, economic blockade and the social blockade on an independent country, it is an act of aggression. They accused Qatar that Qatar has a special relation with Iran, as an example. And they never imposed any of these measures against Iran from the other hand. So it is an act of aggression against the country for different reasons, not because of Iran.
[Amanpour:] You were accused by the UAE and others of funding extremism abroad including here in the U.K. So a very direct question, can you categorically state that no Qatari money comes here to fund hate-preachers or any kind of terrorist organizations?
[Al Thani:] Well, just let me I just want to about the funds of Qatar, which is going outside Qatar to fund
[Amanpour:] See, the problem is that that's a yes or no answer. Either Qatari funds are going to terrorist organizations or they're not.
[Al Thani:] They are not going to terrorist organizations. And if there is any Qatari who is involved in financing any terrorist organization, he will be held accountable for the wrongdoing he has done. And there are a few individual cases who are already in a trial and some of them are convicted already.
[Amanpour:] And you think they're going to any hate preachers here? You know, we have a lot of problems in Britain, as you have seen.
[Al Thani:] Our if there is any charity, which operates under Qatar government system, they have to comply with the government system of the beneficiary country when they are operating there. So if there is any violation, it should be reported and the Qatar will take an action against them. We are against any hate preacher, whether it's in Qatar or outside Qatar. We believe that the world is suffering from terrorism, and all of us, we are we have to work together collectively in eradicating this.
[Amanpour:] How do you square the following circle? When I spoke to your Amir at the U.N. a few years ago, he was saying that we don't support terrorist organizations. But we and some of our allies and some of our neighbors may have different definitions of what different things are.
[Al Thani:] I know that in America and in some countries, they look at some movements as terrorist movements. But there are differences. There are differences that some countries and some people that any group which comes from Islamic background are terrorists and we don't accept that.
[Amanpour:] Is that still your position?
[Al Thani:] It is our position, as long as the terrorist is not defined as terrorist organization within the United Nation's Security Council or there is no proof that this organization is involved in violence. If there are political organizations with Islamic background, we have no problem. Or we have not designate them designating them as terrorist organizations. But we have nothing to do to support them as political organizations, as long as they are operating outside Qatar.
[Amanpour:] So what about Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Israel, by the United States and, you know, leaders like Khaled Mashal are in Qatar.
[Al Thani:] Hamas representation and Qatar is a political office. It's not any military presentation there in Qatar. The political leadership of Hamas now, they are insiders. They are not there are some in Qatar, yes, but the ones who are on Qatar, they are involved in the national constellation which is Qatar working and facilitating. And it is also endorsed by the international community and also in coordination with the United States. Qatar's support doesn't go to Hamas. Their support goes to the people
[Amanpour:] And the Muslim Brotherhood, obviously they are not designated to terrorist group by all countries. But some Egypt thinks it's a terrorist organization.
[Al Thani:] Egypt, they are designating them as terrorist organization. They have to treat them they are treating them in Egypt as terrorist organization. But for me and Qatar, they are not designated as terrorist organization. And Qatar doesn't sponsor the Muslim Brotherhood or it doesn't have a presence of the Muslim brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood are a political movement which operates in Bahrain, which is one of the blockading country, and they are designating them as part of their demands. Now, a terrorist organization, why they are operating in the political in the parliament there in Bahrain, which shows you the double standard in this.
[Amanpour:] And al-Nusra, remember the very famous case when Qatar fortunately was able to get an American, a journalist out of captivity, and you dealt with al-Nusra to get them out.
[Al Thani:] Dealing with al-Nusra, engaging as I told you, engaging with any organization doesn't mean endorsing their ideas. And for us as Qatar, we have facilitators to facilitate this. We don't have direct interaction with them.
[Amanpour:] Do you think President Trump and the administration are contributing to this crisis, or can they play a mediating role?
[Al Thani:] Well, U.S. and Qatar relationship has been very strong, and they are playing a strong role in this. So the U.S. government is highly involved in this conflict. And there are also several steps being taken by them, which forced the blockading countries to submit their demands. So there is a role for the U.S. in mediating in this.
[Amanpour:] I wonder what you think of President Trump who tweeted, "During my recent trip to the Middle East, I stated there can no longer be funding of radical ideology." Leaders pointed to Qatar, look, did Trump's visit encourage this move by the Saudis?
[Al Thani:] First off, President Trump's tweet here he is being told by leaders, leaders who imposed the blockade against Qatar. He didn't refer to the agencies of the United States, which we have everyone has followed the statements of the Department of Defense, or the State Department and the appreciation of their relationship of Qatar and Qatar contribution to countering terrorism. So the differences of the U.S. government agencies and the institution which has a long lasting relationship with the state of Qatar, they know very well the activity of Qatar and the way how cooperative Qatar is with the United States.
[Amanpour:] So you must have thought it was sort of a knife to the heart when at first Secretary Tillerson appeared to want to play a mediating role, and very shortly thereafter, President Trump doubled down against Qatar.
[Al Thani:] The president, when he tweeted, when he referred to
[Amanpour:] Within in the rose garden.
[Al Thani:] A foreign leader, or he has his speech he is delivering his speech, and he's referring to a foreign leader, not to his agencies. We take what's coming out from the agencies and whom the agencies we are dealing with. President Trump has talked to
[Amanpour:] And just finally, I mean, what do you think is the real reason for all of this?
[Al Thani:] Well, we believe that Qatar's independence and its policy may be it's a sort of driving force for this. Qatar policy, first of all, had been always independent, different view, yes, but it doesn't it never affected the collective security of the Gulf countries. And it's never been meant to be affecting the collective security of the Gulf countries and we don't want to compromise any of the Gulf countries' security, because we have a sequence of Qatar. So Qatar has been more progressive in different fronts than the other countries. Maybe this is one of the motives. And I believe mainly that small countries punching over its weight as you have mentioned is something annoying for big countries. And this is not a reflection but what Qatar is doing is not punching over its weight. Qatar is an active player in the international forum, using the international mechanism clearly and visibly with full transparency in front of everyone. And we are trying to bring people together. We are trying to make peace in the world, not to create wars in the world. We are trying to solve the problems by diplomacy and providing a platform. And this is a unique role big countries cannot play. Small countries can do.
[Amanpour:] Foreign minister, thank you very much for joining me.
[Al Thani:] Thank you very much.
[Amanpour:] And when we come back, President Trump has already beneath with climate protesters in Warsaw. Next, I talk to the woman who led the Paris climate deal. Christiana Figueres on only three years that we have left to hope dangerous levels of climate change.