The junior reporter had tweeted that a coup was underway headed by military general Hamed Bin Ali al-Atiya, and subsequently reported a violent shoot-out between soldiers loyal to the General and the \"US-Qatari forces\" around the Royal Palace. Mohammed Saud Jamal suddenly poured cold water on his tweets which ignited the Gulf shortly after midnight, excusing himself with the Qataris saying that the \"reports were completely false.\" The tweets however were picked up by al-Arabiya, which carried the news from its correspondent\'s tweets, but later removed it. Jamal\'s tweets were however picked up by Iranian State media, which spiralled the story and kept the news rolling until this afternoon, creating further speculation over the alleged incidents. Iran\'s Fars News Agency reported that Qatar is experiencing \"critical conditions\" after it was the scene of a coup attempt against Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani whilst on a State Visit to Malta yesterday.