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The US-Israel war with Iran has “forever” altered relations between Doha and Tehran, according to a prominent former Qatari diplomat.
“Attacking civilian infrastructure, under the guise of ‘we’re attacking the Americans,’ is something that Qatar views as a just bold-faced lie,” Nawaf al-Thani, the former Qatari defense attaché to the US, said in an interview with Semafor, adding that Doha now “has to see a seriousness from Iran when it comes to Qatari security.”
Last month, Iranian drone and missile strikes knocked out roughly 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity, while air defenses intercepted waves of missiles targeting civilian infrastructure like Hamad International Airport.
The war has had the opposite effect for US-Qatar relations, according to al-Thani, who predicted that relationship would deepen following the conflict.
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“If anything is proven out of this, it’s having a strategic alliance with the United States is vital, not only for Qatar and the [Gulf Cooperation Council], but also for global energy,” he said.
Al-Thani also noted that members of the GCC are united in seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict: “The GCC in general are all aligned in not expanding this war.”
That doesn’t mean that Gulf countries have ruled out taking on a more assertive role in the war, however. “It may come to a point where a member of the GCC countries decides, we need to move forward and protect ourselves, not just from a defensive posture, but maybe from an offensive posture. Now, I know for a fact that Qatar has been against that because it doesn’t see the calculus in taking an offensive posture towards Iran,” al-Thani said.