US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Saturday to discuss security threats and defence cooperation in the Middle East, the State Department announced.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and Vice President of the United States of America, J. D. Vance © X
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Saturday to discuss security threats and defence cooperation in the Middle East, the State Department announced.
The two officials addressed "US support for Qatar's defence and the importance of close coordination to repel threats and promote stability and security in the Middle East," according to a State Department communiqué, notably without explicitly naming Iran, despite the ongoing conflict that has seen Qatari territory targeted by Iranian strikes since hostilities began on 28 February.
The meeting follows Sheikh Mohammed's separate talks with Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Friday, underlining the intensity of US-Qatari diplomatic engagement at this moment of acute regional tension.
Qatar occupies a unique and delicate position in the Middle East landscape. A close US military ally , home to Al Udeid Air Base, Washington's largest military installation in the region, it has simultaneously served as America's most trusted regional intermediary, most notably brokering ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Since the outbreak of the Iran conflict, that dual role has become significantly more complex, as Doha finds itself both a target of Iranian aggression and a potential back-channel for diplomatic outreach.
By Maher Hassan
An Iranian parliamentary committee is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other "hostile" vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a lawmaker.
With President Donald Trump’s war against Iran now in its sixth month, this week's flurry of threats and diplomacy has underscored the ever-tighter bind he finds himself in as he tries to extricate the U.S. from an unpopular conflict he originally claimed would last just weeks.
At least 30 Yemeni government troops were killed in Houthi attacks on military camps in the provinces of Marib and Hadramout, government sources said on Thursday.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.