From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Qatar offers to mediate to reduce US-Iran tensions
BAGHDAD — Qatar seeks to play a mediating role amid escalating tensions following the January 3 US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, the Qatari foreign minister said Wednesday.
Speaking on an official visit to Baghdad, Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani says Qatar is in contact with regional and international countries in order to de-escalate tensions. His visit to Iraq comes days after Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani visited Tehran.
“Qatar, together with some friendly countries, is trying to decrease tensions. We have made international contacts for more consultations with our brotherly and sisterly countries,” al-Thani says in a joint press conference with Iraq’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammed al-Hakim. “Today we see signs of decreased tensions and we hope this will continue.”
Al-Thani is scheduled to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and President Barham Saleh later today.
“We discussed ways of decreasing tensions in our region and we have our common efforts and joint efforts together with our friends in Iran and America and our talks,” says al-Hakim. “Our talks concentrated on Iraq not being a scene for fighting.”
Tension soared following a US drone strike early this month that killed a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iran retaliated by firing a barrage of missiles that hit two bases in Iraq where American troops are based, but caused no casualties. Tensions soared further after Iran, just hours following the missile attacks, mistakenly shot down an Ukrainian passenger plane that had taken off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.