Saudi Arabia should immediately quash the death sentences of 14 members of the Shia community for protest-related crimes, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.

One of the first signs of the crisis in which four Arab states have cut ties with Qatar came in a phone call from an anxious government adviser to a Reuters journalist early on May 24.

Qatar's leader will not accept an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump to attend mediation talks in Washington on a row in the region while the country remains cut off from its neighbors, a Qatari official said on Thursday.

Iran said on Thursday that gunmen and bombers who attacked Tehran were Iranian members of Islamic State who had fought in the militants' strongholds in Syria and Iraq - deepening the regional ramifications of the assaults.

Kuwait's parliament approved a government budget for the current fiscal year to March 31 that projects a deficit of 7.89 billion dinars ($26 billion), after a transfer to the sovereign wealth fund, the official KUNA news agency said on Thursday.

President Tayyip Erdogan has approved legislation on deploying Turkish troops in Qatar, signaling support for the Gulf state as it faces isolation imposed by fellow Arab states over its alleged support for terrorism.

When 31-year-old Ali Al-Mohanadi heard Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other nations were cutting ties and severing all transport links with his home country Qatar, he emptied the back of his Land Cruiser SUV and drove to a nearby supermarket.

The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has sent condolences to his Iranian counterpart after at least 13 people were killed in militant attacks on Iran's parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum in Tehran.

A woman suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and wounded 35 in a crowded market in the town of Musayab, 80 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, on Friday, security sources said.

Qatar vowed on Thursday to ride out the isolation imposed on it by fellow Arab states over its alleged support for terrorism and said it would not compromise its sovereignty over foreign policy to resolve the region's biggest diplomatic crisis in years.

Egypt and Bahrain kept up pressure on Qatar on Thursday, giving no indication after talks in Cairo between their leaders that they were ready to soften their stance on the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.

According to a report by Arabic CNN Wednesday, US officials have said they have observed increased Qatari military activity as the country placed its forces “on the highest state of alert” over fears of an imminent military incursion.

Britain's spokesman for the Middle East and North Africa, Edwin Samuel, said that his country hopes a solution is reached soon, and that the (GCC) regains its unity, after states have severed ties with Qatar over claims of supporting terrorism.

Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Authority will deny entry to any ships carrying cargoes going to or from Qatar, two shipping circulars seen by Reuters on Thursday showed.

Qatar's central bank has asked commercial banks to provide it with detailed, frequent information on their foreign exchange trading, deposit withdrawals and money transfers, banking sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Qatar's credit quality would decline if tensions with its Gulf neighbors continue for much longer, raising the country's debt ratio and hurting banks' liquidity, Moody's ratings agency said on Thursday.

The Muslim Brotherhood, in its first reaction to the Gulf crisis on Wednesday, rejected what is said were false accusations of terrorism by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister rejected an accusation by Iran's Revolutionary Guards that his country was behind twin attacks in Tehran on Wednesday that killed at least 12 people.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards say Saudi Arabia was behind twin attacks in Tehran on Wednesday that killed at least 12 people and injured 43, a statement published by the Guards said.

Qatari armed forces that had been stationed in Saudi Arabia as part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen returned home on Wednesday, state television reported on its Twitter account.