Qatar said urging Iran to carefully weigh attack on Israel, citing progress in talks

Then-Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani listens to a question during a press briefing in Tehran, Iran, on January 29, 2023. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani listens to a question during a press briefing in Tehran, Iran, on January 29, 2023. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani spoke with Iranian leaders after Thursday’s hostage-ceasefire negotiations in Qatar to update them about progress in the talks, the Ynet news site reports.

Quoting a senior source from one of “the mediating countries” — Qatar, Egypt and the United States — the report says al-Thani was effectively telling his Iranian interlocutors that “you need to thoroughly consider if it’s advisable, for you or Hezbollah, to attack Israel right now when there’s progress like this.”

The report says the phone call appeared to have an impact, asserting that officials from one of the mediating nations learned that Hezbollah has for now pushed off acting on a previous decision to attack Israel.

The news site’s correspondent Ronen Bergman says that in another positive sign, the Israeli team accepted al-Thani’s offer to remain in Doha until the talks resume Friday despite security concerns about staying in the Qatari capital overnight.

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