Sheikh Mohammed reiterated the importance of finding a diplomatic solution between the U.S. and Iran.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has tapped into his country’s different diplomatic efforts, most notably in the Gaza Strip, as well as those between the United States and Iran.

In an interview aired on Friday on The Tucker Carlson Show, the senior Qatari official highlighted the Gulf state’s foreign policy in different global files. 

This comes as all eyes are on Qatar due to the pivotal role it played in mediating between Hamas and Israel in efforts to secure a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Qatar has been subjected to a disinformation campaign after assuming its mediation role since the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. 

The campaign, spearheaded by Israeli and Western officials as well as media, criticised Qatar for hosting the Hamas political office despite its crucial role in mediating the release of Israeli captives. 

Asked about the demonisation of Qatar’s role, Sheikh Mohammed noted that such moves harm the region and the U.S.

“Peace has a lot of enemies[…]who want to undermine it for political reasons, who want to undermine it for economic reasons, who want to demonise your efforts in order to make sure that every step you take will be suspicious in order to control also the parties you are helping,” Sheikh Mohammed said during the interview.

“They don’t know that by doing such a thing, they are not harming us, but they are harming the region and they are harming our friends, including the United States,” he added.

Doha had agreed to host the Hamas political office in 2012 at Washington’s request in order to maintain a channel of communication with the Palestinian movement, a move that has proven effective in past mediation efforts.

More recently, Qatar, alongside Egypt and the U.S., managed to reach a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel on January 15 following a year of stalemate.

The fragile deal came after Israel reduced the Gaza Strip to rubble, killing more than 61,709, with thousand others trapped under the rubble.

Sheikh Mohammed noted that Qatar has been transparent in its mediation and has closely coordinated with the U.S.

“We are sure that every step we are taking, we are very transparent, coordinating with the U.S. and making sure that we are doing the right thing. So I have nothing wrong that I did that I am shying away from,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

Such attacks have also included accusations that U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is being used as Qatar’s “tool”—a claim that Sheikh Mohammed has also rejected.

“This is all a joke,” Sheikh Mohammed said. 

“People are attacking him [Witkoff] for his relation with Qatar and being a tool in Qatar, if you go back and trace back, those people are not interested in having a deal, they are putting their political interest ahead of the interest of even the hostages themselves,” he added.

U.S.-Iran mediation

Qatar has cemented its position over the past years as a key diplomatic power in the region by mediating in critical issues, including between rivals Iran and the U.S.

The Gulf state has served as a key interlocutor between Iran and the U.S. in hopes of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal during his previous administration in 2018, imposing crippling sanctions on Iran and increasing tensions with the country.

Qatar’s shuttle diplomacy between both sides led to a historic agreement on September 18, 2023, resulting in the release of five Iranians and five Americans, as well as the unfreezing of $6bn (around QAR21.8bn) in Iranian assets overseas.

When asked about Qatar’s mediation, Sheikh Mohammed reiterated the importance of finding a diplomatic solution between the U.S. and Iran.

“I think we should get the parties together[…]and if everything is complying with international standards, I don’t see a reason why we don’t have a deal,” Sheikh Mohammed said, noting that Qatar “will not give up until” a solution is reached.

The senior Qatari official also noted that sanctions have mainly harmed the people and have yielded no results in resolving issues.

“In the last 10 years I’ve seen sanctions floating around a lot of countries. None of these sanctions have reached the results they’re intended for,” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed also highlighted the catastrophic implications of an attack on Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the facility closest to Qatar. He said that, in the event of such an attack, it would likely affect not only Qatar but the entire region.

The shared waters between the two countries could be “entirely contaminated,” and Qatar might lose its water supply within just three days.

“We have run this exercise of risk in the country a few years ago before we built our reservoirs[…]basically the country would run out of water in three days,” he said.

“Now, after the reservoirs, we increased that capacity and we keep increasing it, but this is not only applied for Qatar. This is applied for Qatar, this is applied for Kuwait, this is applied for UAE. It’s all of us in that part,” he explained.