Middle East Desk
Report
DOHA: Qatar is urging Gulf nations to enter into a dialogue with Iran and has offered to broker negotiations after a three-year blockade on Doha was recently removed by its Arab neighbours. Qatar, which shares a major gas field with Iran, has for years called on Gulf Arab states to enter talks with Iran, which they accuse of fomenting unrest in the Middle East, accusations Tehran denies.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told Bloomberg TV in an interview that his government is “hopeful that this would happen”.
“We still believe this should happen. This is also a desire that’s shared by other Gulf Cooperation Council countries for talks with Iran,” Sheikh Mohammed said. Iran’s arch-rival Saudi Arabia has not publicly indicated any willingness to engage with Iran. Instead Saudi Arabia insisted this month’s rapprochement with Qatar meant the Gulf family would be better able to combat “the threats posed by the Iranian regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme”.
Commenting separately on potential US-Iran negotiations now that the Trump administration is on its way out, Doha’s foreign minister said Qatar would facilitate those discussions if asked and support whoever is chosen to do so. “We want the accomplishment, we want to see the deal happening,” he said of potential talks between Washington and Tehran. “Wherever it is, whoever it is conducting this negotiation, we will support them.”
New US diplomacy: The comments come a day before President-elect Joe Biden is to be sworn in at the White House replacing President Donald Trump. The newly elected leader already promised to return to the negotiating table with Iran, marking a change of tone in US diplomacy in the region. On Monday Biden nominated longtime diplomat Wendy Sherman, a key negotiator of the Iran nuclear agreement, to be the next deputy secretary of state.
