Qatar accuses Israel of exploiting regional conflicts to impose new realities in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
Qatar is holding talks with Oman and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions in the region, the country’s Foreign Ministry has said, after a recent flare-up in fighting between the US and Iran.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari warned on Tuesday against normalising the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where the war between Iran and the US has seen shipping in the waterway grind almost to a halt.
“We said from the start, any attempt to normalise the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in this way will end with regional escalation, and this is what we saw yesterday and today,” Al-Ansari said in the press conference.
“Escalation does not benefit anyone, and we are all negatively impacted by the escalation. We encourage all sides to be wise and return to negotiations.”
Around 25 percent of the world’s seaborne trade passed through the strait before Israel and the US launched a war on Iran on February 28, reducing traffic in the waterway to a trickle.
The US has enforced a blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran has been accused of laying mines and attacking tankers in the waterway. Energy prices have since skyrocketed, affecting economies across the world.
Iran and Oman have held talks on opening a temporary route through the Strait of Hormuz, but Tehran wants the US to first return to a memorandum of understanding agreed in June.
Qatar, which has been economically impacted by the war, has encouraged a peaceful resolution to the crisis and is in contact with regional leaders to encourage dialogue, Al-Ansari said.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani visited Tehran last week to encourage dialogue to end the crisis.
“The [regional] visits [to Tehran]… are all to support mediation efforts, and attempting to return to the negotiation path, and guaranteeing no return to escalation in the region,” Al-Ansari said about the visit.
“During his visit [the Qatari Prime Minister] confirmed Qatar’s consistent position in support of diplomatic efforts to find a solution to this crisis… efforts are ongoing.”
While the US and Iran battle over the waterway, Israel has continued to bomb and occupy Gaza, Syria and Lebanon.
Recent weeks have also seen a spike in pogroms by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, with Palestinian homes and villages besieged.
Al-Ansari accused Israel of using the war on Iran “to impose a new reality in Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian territories” and accused it of beginning a new regional escalation.
