FNA- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi announced that Qatari officials have voiced interest in the further development of ties and cooperation with Tehran after Saudi Arabia and its allies darkened relations with Doha.

"Our relations with neighbors and Qatar continue similar to the past and no new event has happened in our trade ties with Qatar and they (the Qataris) are interested in more cooperation in the new era," Qassemi told reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday.

"As a neighbor, we continue our relations and there is no impediment in this regard," he added.

In relevant remarks on Wednesday, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani underscored his country's need to establish healthy and constructive ties with Iran, rejecting Saudi Arabia and its allies' demand from Doha to downgrade relations with Tehran.

Al-Thani made the remarks, addressing the Chatham House international affairs think tank in London.

Qatar and Iran had to live alongside each other, he said, noting that the two countries share a giant gas field.

South Pars gas field, which is located in the Persian Gulf, hosts the bulk of Iran�s natural gas reserves.

The joint field � called the North Dome field in Qatar � is the world�s biggest gas field with estimated reserves of 51 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and some 50 billion barrels of condensate. Experts believe that the field has more recoverable reserves than all other fields combined.

Elsewhere, he blasted Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for �clear aggression� against his country as their representatives met in Cairo to discuss further measures against the gas-rich Persian Gulf kingdom.

Al-Thani stated that the recent move by a number of Arab countries to sever their diplomatic relations with Doha and close their borders and airspace �were clearly designed to create anti-Qatar sentiment in the West�.

�Qatar continues to call for dialogue despite the violation of international laws and regulations, despite the separation of 12,000 families, despite the siege that is a clear [act of] aggression and an insult to all international treaties, bodies and jurisdictions,� he pointed out.

Al-Thani noted that countries involved in the diplomatic rift with Qatar �were demanding that we have to surrender our sovereignty to end the siege, something which ... Qatar will never do�.

The Qatari minister suggested that he saw little chance of a rapid reconciliation, and that Doha is preparing for a wider diplomatic rift.

�What we've done in the last few weeks is develop different alternatives for ways to ensure the supply chain for the country not to be cut off,� he said.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar early June, and suspended air and sea communication one week after the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

After more than two weeks, the Saudi-led bloc gave Qatar a 10 days to comply with 13 demands, which included shutting down the Al-Jazeera Media Network, closing a Turkish military base and scaling down ties with Iran, which Doha didn�t accept.