AFP--  "They want a regime change. It's... so obvious," Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani told CBS' 60 Minutes.

"History as well tells us, teaches us they tried to do that before, in 1996 after my father became the emir. So, and they made it also so obvious in the last couple of weeks."

The Persian Gulf crisis erupted June 5 when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, imposing economic sanctions as it accused the emirate of supporting terrorism and of becoming too close with Shia rival Iran.

Riyadh and its allies closed land and maritime borders, suspended air links and expelled Qatari citizens. Doha denies the charges.

"They don´t like our independence, the way how we are thinking, our vision for the region," Sheikh Tamin said Sunday.

"We want freedom of speech for the people of the region. And they´re not happy with that. And so they think that this is a threat to them."