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Qatar Row: Iraqi FM Talks to Qatari Counterpart

Qatar Row: Iraqi FM Talks to Qatari Counterpart
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Local Editor

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari discussed with his Qatari counterpart, in a telephone conversation, an ongoing dispute between Qatar and a number of other Arab countries.

Qatar Row: Iraqi FM Talks to Qatari Counterpart

The state-run Qatar News Agency [QNA] and Qatari Al Sharq newspaper reported that Jaafari had talked to Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Sunday night.

The ministers discussed bilateral relations and a bitter dispute that has been going on between Qatar on the one side and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain on the other since late April.

There were no more details about the conversation.

Iraq has sought to stay neutral in the dispute among the Arab countries, and it was not clear who initiated the Sunday phone call. But the news is likely to draw some kind of reaction from Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh is considered the force behind the row with Qatar. It has accused Doha of "sponsoring terrorism" and led the other three Arab states in boycotting Qatar, including by laying a partial siege to the country.

Saudi Arabia has in the recent past attempted to cozy up to Iraq. Riyadh opened its embassy in Iraq in 2015 following a 25-year break. Various figures have exchanged bilateral visits more recently.

The Sunday telephone conversation between Jaafari and Sheikh Mohammed may now be perceived by Saudi Arabia as an unsolicited public foray into the dispute by Iraq.

The dispute originally erupted when an item appeared on the QNA's website and Twitter account attributing certain remarks to Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The QNA quickly said that it had been hacked and that the emir had not made those remarks.

Saudi Arabian and Emirati media, however, picked up on the news item and continued to give coverage to the alleged remarks despite the Qatari denials.

Qatar has been claiming since then that it has been the subject of a misinformation campaign - and the subsequent boycott - because of its more independent foreign policies.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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