Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said the only solution to rising tensions in the Middle East between Iran and the United States was de-escalation and dialogue.
Sheikh Tamim’s visit on Sunday to Iran to meet President Hassan Rouhani and other senior leaders came amid heightened tensions in the Gulf following the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad and Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes on US targets in Iraq.
Qatar and Iran agreed that de-escalation was the “only solution” to regional tensions, Sheikh Tamim said after meeting Rouhani.
“This visit comes at a critical time in the region, and we agreed with the brothers and with His Excellency the president that the only solution to these crises is de-escalation from everyone and dialogue,” he told a news conference.
“Dialogue is the only solution” to resolve the crises, he added.
Sheikh Tamim was the first national leader to come to Iran since Soleimani’s killing on January 3 in an American drone strike.
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State-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) earlier said the talks will focus on “bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of promoting and enhancing them, as well as the latest developments in the region and the regional and international issues of mutual concern”.
Qatar, which is close to the US but also has strong ties with Iran, with which it shares the world’s largest gas field, has called for a peaceful solution to regional tensions.
Sheikh Tamim was accompanied by an official delegation on his first trip to Iran since becoming emir in 2013.
Earlier on Sunday, the Qatari emir headed to Oman’s capital, Muscat, where he offered his condolences to the Gulf state’s new sultan, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, for the death of his predecessor, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said.
Dorsa Jabbari@DorsaJabbariEmir of Qatar will be in Tehran shortly for the first time and meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani #SoleimaniAassination #emirofqatar #AlJazeeraEnglish
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7:48 AM – Jan 12, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy
‘Reduce escalation’
A day after the January 3 killing of Soleimani, the head of the overseas wing of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Tehran.
The two officials discussed the latest developments in the region, “especially the events in Iraq as well as ways of calm to maintain collective security of the region,” QNA reported at the time.
On Wednesday, Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar is closely following developments in Iraq and seeking to coordinate with friendly countries to reduce tensions.
“We seek through a series of communications to consult and coordinate with friendly and brotherly countries to calm and reduce escalation,” he wrote on Twitter.
AL JAZEERA