Iran’s Pezeshkian expresses ‘regret’ to the emir of Qatar

Tehran’s missile attack on a US base on Monday, according to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who expressed his “regret” to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Pezeshkian and the emir called on Tuesday to discuss the attack on the Al Udeid Air Base, the US base there, and said it did not pose a threat to the Gulf nation.

The statement stated that “Pezeshkian] expressed his hope that relations between the two nations will always be based on the principles of respect for the sovereignty of states and good neighbourliness and that the State of Qatar will continue to be a neighboring, Muslim, and sisterly state.

According to officials from the Ministry of Interior, Iran launched 19 missiles at the US base, which is the largest in the Middle East, and Qatari defense forces intercepted 18 of them. In response to the US’s “blatant military aggression” against Iran’s nuclear facilities on Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had launched this “powerful and devastating missile attack.”

سمو الأمير المفدى يتلقى اتصالاً هاتفياً من فخامة الرئيس الدكتور مسعود بزشكيان رئيس الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية. https://t.co/xrn7hpCfPR

Translation: The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Excellency Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, a calls His Highness the Emir.

A number of flares and loud explosions were visible in Qatar’s Doha and other parts of the country during the Iranian attack. Prior to the attack, Qatari officials confirmed that the airbase had been evacuated.

The Diwan reaffirmed Qatar’s “strong condemnation” of the attack, calling it a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty and airspace.”

The statement further stated that Qatar has always supported dialogue with Iran and has made significant diplomatic efforts in this regard. “His Highness the Emir also stated that this violation is completely contrary to the principles of good neighborliness and the two countries’ close relations,” the statement continued.

The Qatari government has condemned both Israeli and US attacks on Iran, which has long been a fraternal relationship between Iran and Qatar. However, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani mentioned a “scar” in Doha-Tehran relations that needed to be repaired at a press conference on Tuesday.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry claimed earlier on Tuesday that it had written to Antonio Guterres, the UN Security Council, to denounce the “extremely dangerous escalation” and claimed the attack posed a “direct threat to regional peace and security.”

The US-Iran conflict, which started on June 13 after the Israeli army attacked numerous targets inside Iran, led to the tit-for-tat attacks.