Qatar emphasises importance of reaching agreement between US, Iran

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani stressed the critical need for an agreement between the US and Iran, Anadolu Agency reports.

“There is no way that Qatar would support any kind of military step in that region. We will not give up until we see a diplomatic solution between the US and Iran. This needs to reach an agreement,” Qatar’s Al Jazeera channel quoted Al-Thani as saying.

His remarks came shortly after US President Donald Trump hinted on Friday that he hoped for a “peace agreement” with Iran.

In a televised interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, Al-Thani said that every country in the Middle East is concerned about potential strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

He emphasised that Iran is “our next-door neighbor, and we have to maintain a good relation with all our neighbors…it is in the interest of the region to have a better relation with Iran.”

An attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would “entirely contaminate” the waters of the Gulf and threaten life in Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait, he warned. The three desert states, facing Iran on the opposite side of the Gulf, have minimal natural water reserves and are home to more than 18 million people whose only supply of potable water is desalinated water drawn from the Gulf, Reuters reports.

As a result, an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites would leave the Gulf with “no water, no fish, nothing … no life”.

Al-Thani also highlighted the “huge progress” in bilateral relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Iran in recent years, despite differences over some of Tehran’s foreign policies, which he said did not affect bilateral ties with the Gulf states.

On Friday, Trump said that “interesting days” lie ahead for the US and Iran as he seeks to either negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran or pursue “the other option,” a likely allusion to military action.

In contrast, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “as long as the US policy of maximum pressure and threats continues, we will not enter into direct negotiations with the US.”

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