While criticizing the Saudi-led GCC, Qatar shows more openness toward working with Iran

Tabnak – As the diplomatic rift is still ongoing between Qatar and the Saudi led Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatari officials used the opportunity of international Doha Forum to criticize the policies of their fellow Arab neighbors. This comes as Doha and Tehran are looking for ways to develop bilateral ties.

In this vein, Qatar said on Saturday it remained committed to the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council but the bloc needed to enforce its own rules better, signaling a reformed alliance could help end a row between Doha and some of its neighbors.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Qatar was still counting on Kuwait and other regional powers to help solve the row that has seen Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and non-(P)GCC member Egypt impose a political and economic boycott on Doha since June 2017.

“We believe that we are more relevant as a bloc” for the West than as separate and fragmented countries, he told the annual Doha Forum, but said the (P)GCC had “no teeth” and needed a dispute resolution mechanism, Reuters reported.

“They have mechanisms in place and never trigger them (to hold people accountable) because some countries believe they are non-binding, so we need to make sure all the rules we are submitting to are binding to everyone in this region.”

The four states accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott aims to curtail its sovereignty. The dispute has eluded mediation efforts by Kuwait, which along with Oman is a part of the (P)GCC, and the United States.

In a sign the dispute still festered, Qatar’s emir did not attend an annual Persian Gulf summit on Sunday. Doha earlier announced it was quitting OPEC to focus on gas in a move seen as a shot at the oil exporter club’s de facto ruler Saudi Arabia.

“In the (Persian) Gulf crisis our position remains unchanged - lifting the blockade and settling the differences via dialogue,” Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani told the forum.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani held talks on a range of issues, including ways to boost bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries.

In their meeting, held in the Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday, Zarif and Al Thani exchanged views about a host of topics, ranging from bilateral ties to the security and stability of the region.

The two sides also voiced their support for the UN-brokered peace talks on Yemen, which was recently held in Stockholm, Sweden.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Zarif left Tehran for Doha on Saturday morning to participate in the Doha Forum 2018 at the official invitation of the Arab country.

Established in 2000, the Doha Forum is a platform for global dialogue on critical challenges facing our world. The Doha Forum promotes the interchange of ideas, discourse, policy-making, and action-oriented recommendations. In a world where borders are porous, our challenges and solutions are also interlinked, according to the forum’s official website.