Qatar Stresses Resolve to Boost Already ‘Excellent’ Ties with Iran

“Our relations with Iran and Turkey are excellent and we are happy to witness stability in the region,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lolwah Al-Khater said in an interview, IRNA reported.

Al-Khater also thanked those who stood beside Qatar throughout the Saudi-led siege of the country, highlighting the necessity of preserving peace in the Persian Gulf.

Beginning on June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia and its allies — the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt — severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and laid a siege against the country. They demanded that Qatar reduce diplomatic relations with Iran, stop military coordination with Turkey and close Al-Jazeera, among other things.

The blockade failed to reach its goals, and instead, prompted Qatar to forge closer ties with Iran and Turkey, both of whom helped Qatar weather the economic pressure and reroute its flights.

Qatar and the quartet moved toward resolving the crisis earlier this month, reaching an agreement that would allow the resumption of commerce and travel between Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the first time since the siege was laid.

“The Persian Gulf crisis was of no benefit [to anyone], but rather, it was detrimental to everyone,” Al-Khater said.

“Following the signing of the peace agreement on January 5th, Arab and Western media reported that the agreement may affect Qatar’s relations with Turkey and Iran, but the Turkish and Iranian foreign ministries were the first who welcomed the agreement,” she said, Mehr news agency reported.