Iran welcomes Qatar’s call for regional dialogue, says foreign minister

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Muhammad Javad Zarif, welcomed on Wednesday the Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani’s invitation for a comprehensive dialogue between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Tehran.

“Iran welcomes my brother FM [Al Thani’s] call for inclusive dialogue in our region,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

“As we have consistently emphasised, the solution to our challenges lies in collaboration to jointly form a ‘strong region’: peaceful, stable, prosperous & free from global or regional hegemony,” he added.

READ: Egypt and Qatar agree to resume diplomatic ties, Cairo says

Earlier on Tuesday, the Qatari foreign minister said in an interview with Bloomberg that his country hopes the GCC countries and Iran engage in dialogue.

“We are hopeful that this [summit] will happen and we still believe that this should happen. And I think this is also a desire that is being shared among the other GCC countries,” the Qatari top diplomat said, offering Doha’s mediation.

The Qatari minister’s invitation came after his country reconciled with its neighbours Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain as well as Egypt at the GCC summit held in the Saudi city of Al-Ula earlier this month.

Mr. Al-Thani has also said his country is willing to mediate between the United States and Iran if the “concerned parties requested so.”