Qatar & Iran: Convergence or Divergence? “Qatari-Iranian Ties: A Threat to Arab Regional Security (II)”

Cairo – Iran and Qatar have close political, economic and military ties. Unlike most of GCC States,  especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar refrains from criticizing Iran’s internal and external activities. It even cooperates with Iran for decades despite the international embargo and boycott that were imposed on Republic of Iran until signing the nuclear deal in 2015.

Political Relations:

On September 20, 1969, an agreement was made to demarcate the maritime borders and divide the continental shelf between Iran and Qatar. In 1971, Qatar gained its political independence and its political relationship with the Shah of Iran was as good as the rest of the Gulf States.

However, after the revolution in Iran, the overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic regime in Iran in 1979, Iran and the rulers of the Gulf began to express hostility. Ayatollah Khomeini used to criticize Arab rulers of treason, conspiracy and submission to the west, especially the United States of America.

During the first Gulf War (1980-1988), Qatar stood by the GCC in support of its Arab neighbor, supported Iraq and backed former Iraqi autocrat Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, which was in a variety of forms such as providing several loans, military subventions and grants to the Iraqi regime.

However, the rapprochement between Qatar and Iran began in 1992, when the border dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar over Khafoos region that contributed to the normalization of bilateral relations between Tehran and Doha. After that, former Iranian President; Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani exploited the dispute and declared Iran’s support for Qatar, which prompted Khalifa Bin Mohamed Al-Thani, the current Emir’s grandfather, to send a gratitude letter to Iran’s president for his support of Qatar.

In the same year plans were made to transfer fresh water by pipeline from the Karun River in Iran to Qatar, but after the local resistance in Iran, the plan was withdrawn.

At the beginning of 1999, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami visited Doha and witnessed the conclusion of a number of agreements in various fields. The most important of which is the understanding on a number of regional and international political issues, the condemnation by both countries of the phenomenon of terrorism and the need to distinguish between terrorist operations and legitimate resistance.

The visit also garnered Iran’s support for Doha to host the Islamic Summit Conference at the time.

One of the important implications of that visit was coordination between the two sides to support the Palestinian Hamas movement, which became one of the strongest points of rapprochement between the two countries in the subsequent period.

In 2000, Ahmed Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the former emir of Qatar, had a visit to Tehran, and this was the first visit paid by one of the Gulf States Governors to the Iranian Republic since the establishment of the Islamic Revolution following the overthrow of the Shah government.

In 2006, the Qatari Emir paid another visit to the Iranian Capital, and the result of that later came out in July of the same year (2006) whereas the state-let of Qatar became the only Arab member state out of 15 other members of the UN Security Council.  Qatar vetoed the Council’s decision No. 1696 over demands to Iran to halt its Nuclear Program.

At that time, Qatar claimed to be brokering for resolution to all issues and disputes within the international community in its own terms, and its delegate stated before the Council that Iran has every right to have “nuclear ambitions for peaceful purposes” as well as the region has the full right to live in peace and security.

In fact, there has been great cooperation between both countries especially in December when Qatar sent an official invitation to the then President-elect Iranian Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the Gulf 28th Summit Conference convened in Doha, Qatar’s capital, as a guest of honor. This came to the surprise of several Gulf states, as Ahmadinejad was the first Foreign President to attend such regional Summit.

Military Relations:

As political relations burgeoned, military cooperation between Qatar and Iran has also grown at unprecedented levels. In 2010, Hamad Bin Jasim, former president of Qatar, had visited Tehran and had a meeting with revolutionary mastermind Khamenei. During the visit, both sides signed a security agreement between representatives of the Revolutionary Guard and Qatari military officials. What’s more, in the same year, both sides exchanged visits, such as Iranian military commander of the Revolutionary Guards Ahmad Vahidi who then visited Qatar and signed with the Qatari armed forces Commander-in-chief; Admiral Ahmed Bin Ali Al- Atteya Defense Cooperation Agreement between both Countries.

In 2013, it has been found out that Doha had recourse to Iranian Forces to train its Qatari Coast Guards in its War on Drugs; or the counter-narcotics field. Moreover, the Iranian coast guard forces and its Qatari counterpart jointly conducted mutual military maneuvers, all that was announced on the sidelines of 11th conference for Iranian-Qatari cooperation in coast guarding in Kish Island, Southern Iran.

The Military Cooperation between both countries had peaked in 2015, as this year had witnessed the conclusion of a Security Military Agreement between both countries under the name of “Combating Terrorism and Countering Disruptive Elements of Security in the Region”. In October 2015, Qasim Radaay, Commander of the Iranian border guards, met with Director-General of the General Directorate of Coast and Border Security Staff Brig (Navy) Ali Ahmed Saif al Badeed. The meeting ended up with signing a Cooperation Agreement for “Protecting Shared Borders” between both countries, and buttressing security cooperation efforts for the first time between the “Revolutionary Guards and the Qatari Army”.

Doha hadn’t stated all such items of the Agreement. After that, it was discovered that this Agreement gives the right of the Qatari Naval Forces to be trained by the Naval Forces which is a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Al-Huar Region Qeshm Island, southern Iran. Later, Doha started training its limited naval forces under the auspices of the IRGC, as well as conducting joint military trainings with the Revolutionary Guard as well. Doha allowed ample time to have the GCC to approve such a proposition as put forward by Tehran for establishing “Regional Security Defense System;”  however,  all such attempts turned to be abysmal failure as Iranian leverage heightened, and Qatar had a whole lot of fears of its activities regionally.

The salient hallmark of all such agreements was that they were mostly made public by the Iranian side, while Doha did not try to brag about them out of fear of angering the Saudi big brother and neighbor.

Egyptian Journalist and Member of Parliament, Dr. Abdel Rehim Ali is an expert on Islamist Movements and political Islam. This essay is adapted from his upcoming book “Qatar: The Destabilizer of the Middle East: The Full Story of Grand Conspiracy,” which will be published later this month.