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Qatar's Emir Silent on US-Iran Mediation After Talks with US Leaders

Michael Lipin

   This article originated in [1]VOA's Persian Service. Katherine Ahn
   contributed from Washington.

   Qatar's emir has used his visit to Washington this week to highlight
   his nation's growing economic and defense ties with the United States,
   but has said nothing about his apparent bid to mediate U.S.-Iran
   tensions.

   Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani metPresident Donald Trump at the White
   House on Tuesday and Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper at the
   Pentagon a day earlier, with both sides praising what they called
   "increasingly close" strategic and defense relations. They cited Qatari
   purchases of and agreements to buy U.S.-made aircraft, jet engines and
   missile defense systems, the joint development of a Qatari
   petrochemicals complex and Qatar's expansion of the Al Udeid Airbase
   hosting U.S. forces.

   But the U.S. readouts of Al Thani's meetings with Trump and Esper made
   no explicit mention of Iran, whose long-running tensions with
   Washington have soared in recent months. Neither did Trump nor Al Thani
   say anything about a Qatari desire to mediate between the United States
   and Iran, as the two leaders spoke to reporters ahead of their White
   House talks.

   Qatar not only serves as a U.S. ally by hosting the U.S. military's
   Central Command forward headquarters at the Al Udeid Airbase, but it
   also serves as Shi'ite-majority Iran's best friend among Sunni-led Gulf
   Arab nations that have largely shunned Tehran in retaliation for its
   support of anti-Sunni insurgencies in the region. Doha has boosted its
   economic and diplomatic ties with Tehran since 2017, when Saudi Arabia,
   the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain imposed a land, sea and air
   blockade on Qatar for its perceived support of terrorism and advocacy
   of improved ties with Iran.

   In a [2]reportpublished Tuesday, Qatari news agency Al Jazeera, founded
   by the emirate's ruling family, quoted Qatar University politics
   professor Majed al Ansari as saying Doha is "actively working in
   mediation between Iran and the United States." Al Ansari, a former
   Qatari foreign ministry official, also described that mediation as
   likely to be a "main topic" of Al Thani's meetings with U.S. officials
   in Washington.

   In a Tuesday press briefing at the State Department, spokeswoman Morgan
   Ortagus said U.S.-Qatari cooperation in dealing with what she called
   Iran's "destabilizing activities" in the region would be on the agenda
   of Al Thani's meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday.

References

   1. https://ir.voanews.com/
   2. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/qatar-emir-meet-trump-discuss-economy-security-190709112439816.html

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