Qatar Denies Official Mediating Role Between Iran And US

A report on the Doha-based channel citing Qatari foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani’s account of Qatar emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s May 12 meeting with Khamenei had mentioned the word “compromise, attributing it to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Both Al-Jazeera and Reuters news agency have dropped the word ‘compromise’ from their reports, now citing the Qatari foreign minister saying that Doha had been informed by Iran that the JCPOA negotiations matters were "under review."

Iran’s foreign affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, quickly responded Saturday, telling Tasnim news agency that Foreign Minister Al-Thani’s remarks had been deliberately misinterpreted by some media outlets and in any case falsely attributed to Khamenei.

The leader “never spoke of any compromise over the issue” during the meeting, Khatibzadeh said. "The Supreme Leader … told the Emir of Qatar: 'We have always said that negotiations should be productive and not a waste of time. The Americans know what to do regarding this.’"

Khatibzadeh insisted that the Qatari foreign minister had referred to Iranian officials rather than Khamenei, and that the translation of ‘compromise’ in Persian-language media had given a misleading sense of Iran making concessions rather than resolving disagreements.

Speaking to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)-linked Tasnim news agency Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Al Jazeera report on the Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani’s remarks have been misrepresented by some media outlets “by design”.

Citing Al Jazeera television, some Persian language media claimed Saturday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has shown willingness to make a compromise in the nuclear issue.

Qatar's foreign minister, Foreign Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said on Saturday in remarks cited by al Jazeera TV that the Iranian leadership expressed readiness for a compromise regarding "the Iranian nuclear file” during the May 12 visit of Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani s, to Tehran and his meetings with Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“The Iranian leadership told us they were ready for a compromise,” the Qatari-based TV quoted the Qatari foreign minister as saying.

Khatibzadeh said the Qatari foreign minister’s reference was to Iranian officials, not the Supreme Leader, and that Persian-language media used a translation of the word ‘compromise’ to suggest concessions rather than settlement of disagreements.

“The esteemed Leader of the Revolution never spoke of any compromise over the issue [in his meeting with the Qatari Emir],” Khatibzadeh said and quoted Khamenei as saying to the Qatari Emir that he has always said negotiations to restore the deal must be “result-oriented” and not “wasting time”. “The Americans know what they should do towards this end,” he quoted Khamenei as saying in the meeting.

"It is clear from the context of the Leader's remarks that [he was saying] that the ball is in the court of the United States, which must make a wise political decision to fulfil its obligations [under the 2015 nuclear deal]," Khatibzadeh said.

Al Jazeera also quoted Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani as saying that reaching common ground on the Iranian nuclear issue will boost stability in the Persian Gulf region and help oil markets. "Pumping additional quantities of Iranian oil to the market [if a deal is reached and sanctions on Iran are lifted] will help stabilize crude prices and reduce inflation," the minister said.

Iran’s crude oil exports have been under US sanctions since May 2018 when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

On Friday, Qatar’s Emir expressed optimism that an agreement between Washington and Tehran was achievable and said his country was prepared to help broker a deal.

Talks in Vienna to restore the JCPOA have stalled since mid-March. Major issues reportedly include Washington’s refusal to delist Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) which the Trump administration designated as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’. Iran also insists on avenging the US killing of IRGC’s Qods Force Commander Ghasem (Qasem) Soleimani who was killed in Baghdad in 2020 in a US targeted drone attack.

In recent weeks, regional countries including Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait, which have good relations with Washington, have reportedly tried to mediate between Tehran and Washington. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to hold behind the scenes talks with Omani officials over the issue during his visit to Muscat Monday.

The EU Foreign Policy Chief Josef Borrell Saturday held a phone call with Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, over the latest developments in the talks. After the phone call, Borrel warned in a tweet that the longer the talks in Vienna take, the more difficult it will be to conclude the negotiations.

“Our view is that the sanctions should be enforced,” Sullivan told reporters at a White House briefing Friday in response to questions about Washington’s position on $7 billion of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea and whether the issue would be addressed during President Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea.

Biden arrived in Seoul Friday and will meet with South Korea’s newly elected President Yoon Seok-youl.

“And as long as Iran continues to advance its nuclear program, we should be working with our allies and partners to ensure that we are maintaining the form of economic pressure on them to sharpen the choice to get them to ultimately to agree to what is a perfectly fair and reasonable deal on the table for them in Vienna,” Sullivan who is accompanying Biden in his trip to Korea said but declined to say if the issue of frozen funds would be on the agenda of the two presidents.

Talks in Vienna to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have stalled since mid-March when diplomats returned to their capitals for consultations over disagreements. Major issues reportedly include Washington’s refusal to delist Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) which the Trump administration designated as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’. Iran also insists on avenging the US killing of IRGC’s Qods Force Commander Ghasem (Qasem) Soleimani who was killed in Baghdad in 2020 in a US targeted drone attack.

In recent weeks, regional countries including Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait, all of which have very good relations with Washington, have reportedly tried to mediate between Iran and the United States.

So far there has been no breakthrough but the Emir of Qatar Tamim Al Thani, who visited Tehran last week and met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, at a press conference in Berlin Friday expressed hope that Tehran and Washington would reach an agreement, saying Doha is ready to help resolve the disagreements.

Most of Iran's official and semi-official media downplayed or completely excluded any mention of Qatar’s possible mediation in the nuclear talks and instead focused on reporting the Iranian leader’s and president's remarks about regional issues and Israel.

Oman which has a long record of mediation between Tehran and Washington as well as other world powers has also been working behind the scenes. Iranian media announced Saturday that Raisi will be visiting Muscat on Monday at the invitation of Sultan Haitham Al-Said.

The reports made no mention of any plans to discuss the nuclear standoff between Tehran and Washington in Muscat and only said the signing of some cooperation agreements and meetings with Omani economic officials will be on the agenda of Raisi’s one-day visit to the sultanate.

An Iranian diplomat who declined to be named told Faraz Daily economic news website on Friday that Tehran counts on Oman’s mediation more than any other country due to several decades of trust.

“[Facilitating] talks and more serious agreements between Iran and the US has usually been entrusted to the Omani mediators, meaning Iranian and American officials want this,” he said, adding that the major part of initial talks between Tehran and Washington that led to the conclusion of a nuclear agreement in 2015 were conducted through Omani mediators.

In an article published on Friday, American journalist Laura Rozen quoted the unnamed source as saying that “Every day which passes without achieving agreement, the risk to lose everything increases considerably”.

“As far as I see it, both sides are going into different directions and the distance is not narrowing down,” the European diplomat said, referring to the United States and Iran.

Criticizing the White House’s political cautiousness, former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt warned in a Washington Post op-ed this week that “Biden must seriously consider the costs of his passivity vis-a-vis Iran and find a way forward — or we may find ourselves in another conflict that no one asked for”.

The French foreign ministry spokesperson said on May 17 that “The draft agreement on resuming compliance with the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) has been ready for more than two months. However, it is being held up by an issue between the United States and Iran that is not related to the JCPOA”.

Tehran says Washington must respond to proposals it put forth last week during the visit of EU coordinator Enrique Mora, to break the stalemate in nuclear talks.

Negotiations that started in Vienna in April last year to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal known as JCPOA came to a halt in March as Tehran reportedly demanded the removal of its Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told a press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, "We hope there will be an agreement between the parties to Iran nuclear agreement”.

Qatar’s ruler visited Tehran last week and held meetings with President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. His visit coincided with the presence of EU coordinator of the nuclear talks, Enrique Mora, in Tehran.

Most of Iran's official and semi-official media had downplayed or completely excluded any mention of possible mediation in the nuclear talks by the Emir and instead focused on reporting the Iranian leader and president's remarks about regional issues and Israel.

Earlier in the week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Qatari foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani about Iran, thanking his counterpart for “Qatar’s constructive role in efforts to resolve issues with Iran” as well as its diplomatic assistance with Afghanistan.

Talks in Vienna since April 2021 had reached a critical stage by mid-March when diplomats announced a pause and returned to their capitals.

A major disagreement reportedly remains the US listing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ while Iran has also refused to drop calls for retribution for the US killing IRGC general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.