Qatar’s foreign minister believes that a regional dialogue is necessary between Iran and the GCC in order to address common concerns.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said he is keen on seeing an end to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations through gathering all relevant parties to comply with the deal’s commitments.
He stressed that this is very crucial for the stability of the region.
The foreign minister affirmed that his country will not “hesitate” to help in any mediation-related efforts to alleviate conflicts and “bring adversaries to the negotiating table,” especially between the west and their separate discussions with the Taliban movement Iran’s nuclear agreement.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister said that Iran’s foreign affairs “certainly” affects Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries as it is a neighbouring nation. The Qatari top diplomat reiterated the country’s firm stance in liaising a constructive dialogue between Iran and the United States through its respective communication channels.
Qatar’s FM: Doha rules out new investments in Russia until there is stability
His comments came in an interview with CNN on the sidelines of this year’s Doha Forum.
He confirmed that Qatar is “not effectively or officially a mediator,” but nevertheless, the Gulf country hopes to bridge the gap between Iran and the US.
Regarding the crippling economic sanctions imposed on Iran, Al-Thani noted “as a small country, we never believe that economic sanctions or unilateral sanctions are an effective tool to change policies. This has been very clear and principled position for us.”
Economic sanctions have a direct negative impact on the people of nation and “punishing people for policies of government, we don’t see it as the right approach.”
“We believe that the economic sanctions need to be lifted and the country [Iran] needs relief because of the people and this is the livelihood of the Iranian people, it’s not punishing a government.”
As for the the implications of a possible delisting of Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Qatari top envoy said the IRGC is an integral part of the Iranian official military structure and “we should respect their structure. We should really talk about the actions that have been taken by certain forces here and there.”
“Those actions, if they are in the bad interest of the region or specific countries they’re targeting civilians in any ways, those actions need to be terrorised.”
“But not just terrorising an organisation because of specific action by a smaller group,” Al-Thani added.
Former Iranian Foreign Minister, Sayyid Kamal Kharrazi, emphasised the importance in IRGC’s removal from the the infamous US Foreign Terrorist Organisations list, which designated the military branch in April 2019 under the Donald Trump administration.
The significance of this request, for Iran, lies in IRGC’s tie to certain economic entities within the Islamic Republic. A failure to delist the Guards, will impact the Iranian economy, Kharrazi argued in a panel at the Doha Forum 2022.
Iran and Qatar’s foreign ministers meeting
Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani met with his Iranian counterpart, Dr Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday at the sidelines of the third meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries in China.
The two sides reviewed bilateral cooperation between the two countries, the latest developments in the nuclear deal talks and the latest developments in Afghanistan.
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