Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Qatari counterpart “met and exchanged views” on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported.
Their talks followed an important meeting between Araghchi and Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian president’s special representative for West Asia and Africa.
Taken together, the meetings illustrate how Iran is positioning itself by working with Qatar, which is an ally of the US, and Russia, while Moscow has hinted at a major escalation in Ukraine.
Doha has long enjoyed close ties to Iran, while Tehran backs Hamas, which is hosted by Qatar. Iran backed Hamas’s October 7 massacre and rallied its other proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, to attack Israel.
The Iran-Qatar relationship is important for managing several regional files.
Doha has much influence over Hamas. According to recent reports, Hamas leaders may have relocated to Turkey due to American pressure on the Qataris to stop hosting the terrorists.
Iran would prefer to coordinate with Doha on key matters, including Tehran’s views about a possible ceasefire in Lebanon.
A Turkish diplomatic source dismissed these reports on Monday, saying Hamas leaders had only visited the country occasionally.
US special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon on Wednesday to negotiate a ceasefire, while Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Araghchi met in Tehran to discuss bilateral and regional developments.
Araghchi had met with Bogdanov and “emphasized the Islamic Republic of Iran’s determination to further strengthen cooperation in bilateral and multilateral fields while referring to the very good relations between Tehran and Moscow,” Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iran’s official news agency, reported. “Bogdanov… traveled to Tehran for consultations with Iranian officials [and] on Tuesday evening met and held talks with Araghchi.”
Growing closer
Iran and Russia have been growing closer in recent years, with the former supplying the latter with drones to attack Ukraine. This week, Washington gave its approval for Kyiv to use US-supplied missiles to attack inside Russia, and the White House also said it would authorize land mines for Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted that if Washington cuts funding or support for Kyiv, it could lose the war. These are tense times, and Russia appears ready to escalate; already, the US and several European countries have temporarily closed their embassies in Kyiv due to a possible escalation by Moscow.
In Iran, though, things are looking more pleasant. Araghchi stressed the importance of good relations with Russia, expressing “hope that this visit would help further develop bilateral relations,” IRNA reported.
He “also considered the situation of insecurity and instability in the West Asian region are the result of the aggressive actions of the Zionist regime and warned against the expansion of the scope of conflicts to the entire region,” the report said.
Iran also recently raised the issue of Western sanctions and what Iranian media call the “embargo on Iran’s airlines and shipping lines.” Tehran is increasingly angry at the European Union, with Araghchi slamming the EU in the meetings with Moscow.
This is how Iran is positioning itself to feed off Russia’s anger at the West and tie Iran economically to Russia and China.
“The EU and the UK, without presenting any evidence, have accused Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to Russia and imposed sanctions on our airlines and shipping,” Araghchi said in a post on X.
IRNA reported that Iran would respond to the “unconstructive measures at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors’ session. Speaking in a phone call with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Wednesday, Araghchi discussed the interactions between Iran’s FM moves to cement Russia and Qatar ties and the IAEA following Grossi’s trip to Tehran, as well as the developments related to the Board of Governors meeting.”
Reuters contributed to this report.