DOHA: The attendance of Qatar’s Prime Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) emergency summit in Makkah on Thursday is seen an indication of the significant role Qatar is going to play in the escalating tension between Iran and the United States as well as some of its Gulf allies, sources have said.
The Makkah summit, which is one of the first high-level meetings with blockading nations since the embargo was imposed nearly two years ago, is expected to focus on regional security issues amid soaring tension between Iran and the United States.
The Saudi King had invited Qatar’s Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani earlier this week for the summit. Instead, the Prime Minister is attending and will come face to face with top officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and other countries at the meeting.
The Prime Minister’s participation is seen as the biggest sign of rapprochement between the two countries since the blockade started two years ago. Also, this is the first high-level contact between the two countries in more than two years.
On the Iranian issue, Qatar stands for peace and security in the region and is against any escalation in tension, a position which is starkly different from that of some of its Gulf neighbours. The fact that the Prime Minister himself attends the summit shows Qatar wants to send a powerful and important message to the blockading countries that the stability and security of the region must be our goal.
A low-level participation would not have achieved the same success in presenting the country’s interests and policies so forcefully at the summit.
Qatar is likely to present a counter view on Iran for a balanced and more stable approach that would focus on the dangers and consequences of pushing the region into a confrontation.
The Prime Minister’s participation also follows the visits to Doha by Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi in the past couple of days. Their meetings in Doha centred on finding an amicable solution to the Iran issue amidst the ratcheting up of tensions between Tehran and Washington and the rising rhetoric between the two sides.
Tehran has expressed its willingness to talk to its Gulf neighbours for de-escalating the tension.
Lolwah Al Khater, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the Premier’s participation in the summit a victory for regional interests. “The State of Qatar, which has never lost its active and positive participation in the Arab, Islamic and international spheres, once again won the supreme interest of the region over the relations between the two countries,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan said that the 1,500 additional troops announced last week would be going to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.