Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, August 26
Earlier last week, the Qatari government officially announced its plan to bolster its bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. To anyone with even a basic understanding of Middle East politics, this comes as no surprise. The official Qatari explanation given to this newly-emerging alliance was the need to diversify the country’s trade portfolio following the embargo imposed on it by Gulf States. However, this is merely an excuse. Qatar’s small economy has very little to benefit from trade with Iran, and Iran has no need, nor interest, in Qatari imports. Instead, this new partnership is meant to exacerbate the only thing that two countries do have in common: their attempt to wreak havoc in the region. Iran has been the largest supporter of Shiite militias in the region, like Hezbollah. Qatar, on the other hand, has sponsored and funded Sunni terror groups, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIL. This is as far as the similarity between the two countries goes. Thus, the new Doha-Tehran partnership has no end-goal in sight. It should be understood as nothing more than a provocation; an attempt to anger Qatar’s neighboring countries and strengthen Iran’s hold in the Gulf. Unfortunately for Qatar, this effort will not succeed. The times have changed, and Obama is no longer running the White House. The new strong man in power has been taking a harsh hand against Tehran and its cronies. This new partnership will simply add Qatar to that blacklist. Doha’s decision to upgrade its relations with Tehran at this time will come back to haunt it. It is already suffering from grave consequences for its political decisions. It does not need another terrible mistake. – Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed