Foreign ministers of Qatar and Iran discuss ways to reduce regional escalation

AA / Doha / Ammar El Khalfi

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman discussed with his Iranian counterpart Hussein Amir Abdullahian on Wednesday ways to reduce escalation in the region, including ending the war in Gaza and providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release that its top official received a phone call from Abdullahian, during which they “discussed cooperative relations between the two countries and means for their support and development.

The two ministers also discussed “the development of the situation in the region and ways to de-escalate, in particular by ending the war in the Gaza Strip and directing the necessary humanitarian aid to the enclave,” according to the same press release.

The interview comes roughly two weeks after Iran launched rocket and drone attacks directly from its territory into Israel on April 13 in response to what it says was Tel Aviv targeting the consular section of its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus. To which Israel responded by launching a “limited strike” with drones on certain Iranian areas a few days later.

This was followed by intensive communications and calls by leaders and officials from the Arab region and the world, with the aim of preventing escalation between the two countries, amid fears of a regional war.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war against Gaza that has left tens of thousands dead and wounded, mostly children and women, mass destruction and starvation that has claimed the lives of children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and UN figures.

Israel continues its war despite the Security Council’s adoption of an emergency cease-fire resolution and despite its appearance before the International Court of Justice for crimes of “genocide”.

*Translated from Arabic by Wejden Jlassi

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