Qatar asked the Arab Gulf countries to enter into dialogue with Iran, saying it was the right time for Doha to broker the negotiations, now that neighbors have started to fix their own differences.
Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who has long called for a summit between the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and the Islamic Republic leaders, said his government was “hopeful that this would happen. and we still believe that this should happen “.
“This is also a desire shared by others GCC countries, ”he said Bloomberg TV in an interview.
The comments come days before Joe Biden moved to the White House with a promise to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reverse the “maximum pressure” campaign that won support from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates United Arabs. He has already appointed a number of diplomats who helped to forge the original agreement to the top policy posts.
Qatar recently fixed a feud with neighbors in the Arabian Gulf that had worsened for more than three years and centered on accusations that it was funding militant groups and undermining attempts to isolate Iran, whose regional influence and nuclear ambitions they fear.
Arab Gulf states agree to restore ties with Qatar in a US-backed agreement
A key Ally of the United States in the largest oil-exporting region in the world, Qatar denies supporting terrorism and maintaining cordial ties with the Islamic Republic, with which it shares an important gas field in the Persian Gulf.
This puts one of the largest gas exporters in the world in a position to play the broker, as the change in the White House leads to broader regional realignments and a departure from the confrontation.
Sheikh Mohammed said his government has offered to do just that and is already supporting ongoing discussions between Iran and South Korea to secure the release of an oil tanker seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard earlier this month.
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“Qatar will facilitate negotiations if requested by interested parties and will support whoever is chosen to do so,” he said. “We want the realization, we want to see the deal going,” he said of possible negotiations between the US and Iran. “Wherever you are, whoever is conducting this negotiation, we will support you.”
Even with Qatar offering itself as a regional mediator, Sheikh Mohammed said there is still a way to go to resolve differences with the United Arab Emirates
Asked about Doha’s position on Islamic political movements, which Abu Dhabi considers it a threat to stability, he said that it is important to try to overcome the differences, but “we will support everything that people want and everything that people will seek for their countries. If they are going to seek justice using peaceful ways of expressing what they think is right, Qatar will continue to support the people ”.
Still, the minister said he and his colleagues in the Emirates are in direct communication and working to resolve pending complaints. “Here in Qatar, we look to the future,” he said. “We don’t have to be hostages to the past.”
– With the help of Abbas Al Lawati and Zainab Fattah
(Adds details about the UAE discussions in the last paragraph)