Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hammad Al Thani made his first visit to the US. He is the only leader from Emirates to meet Biden. Qatar is interested in becoming a key non-NATO member as part of the international political arena. Qatar is a small country in the Middle East and had to face temporary closure of the diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. They were accused of supporting the Iran and Islamists groups in the region. Qatar has gained the status third-largest non-NATO Alley in the Gulf region after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. They work closely with the US military as one of the strategic partners.
One of the key features of Qatar was to help the US in a breakthrough deal with the Taliban. Doha hosted a number of joint negotiations between the US and the Taliban. After the Doha talks, the US withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and provided an alternative route to travel to Afghanistan. Doha has also facilitated the rapprochement between US-Iran in case of the Iran nuclear deal to restore their position of 2015. The US under the Trump administration withdrew from deal with Iran on their nuclear program. It was revoked under Joe Biden's administration to restore the Iran nuclear talks.
Qatar has restored its position as an important ally for the US in Middle Eastern Politics. Since they have close ties with Iran that helped in initiating dialogue between US-Iran over the nuclear program. The 2015 talks were in a stalemate position during the Trump administration. Iran also refused to hold talks and cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect their nuclear faculties. As per the 2015 talks Iran agreed to limit their nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and share details with the international nuclear agencies about their nuclear technology to ensure transparency of their nuclear program. The aim was to keep a check on nuclear countries and decrease the nuclear fissile material.
Qatar has cordial terms with Iran and works closely particularly in their energy sector. Both the countries were working to preserve the North Dome/South Pars gas field. They share these gas fields which constitute the world's largest reserve of Natural Gas. Qatar is one of the major players in OPEC which determines the oil pricing and disruptions to the rest of the world. They are also interested in working independently other than the OPEC. Qatar signed a major agreement with Exxon Mobil to further expand their LNG storage for their country.
Qatar refused to join any coalition whether its anti-US or anti-Iran. They had to face immense pressure from the alliances to join them. Qatar keeps a neutral position and works towards its foreign policy objectives that are to maintain good relations with all countries within the region. Even at the international level, they cooperate with other countries. On the diplomatic front, Qatar became a channel for back door diplomacy in case of US-Iran relations. The emir of Qatar made visits to Iran to act as a middle man between Iran and US. Doha was able to manage its bilateral relations with both countries.
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