The Emir of Qatar’s Gift to the new Iranian President.

Zawia Media Publications

June 24/2021

Earlier this week the newly elected president of Iran and the Qatari Emir had a meeting where the Qatari Emir “Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani” gifted a very luxurious aircraft worth of at least $500 million dollars to the Iranian president “Ibrahim Raisi”. It is important to mention that it is not the first time where the Emir is giving out very expensive gifts to high profiled political leaders. He had also gifted an aircraft worth of $400 million dollars to the president of Turkey Recep Tayip Erdogan.

As soon as the gift was handed over to the president of Iran, the news got a lot of attention from the media. It is not surprising because the aircraft which was gifted is indeed considered the most expensive aircraft in the world. Based on the information available from other news resources, the gift was given to the president for congratulating his victory.

The Qatari and Iranian political relationships is very important for Afghanistan. Both Qatari and Iranian governments have proven not to be the best of allies for Afghanistan. That is because there were a number of Human Rights violations by the Iranian border police towards the Afghan immigrants a few months ago and it still is going on to some extent. It is also important to mention that the Qatari Government on many occasions has accepted their support for the Taliban Group. Their support for this group is also very obvious even without the statements. The fact that Taliban has a headquarters in Qatar in itself is a questionable point. It is a question that time will provide answer to when it comes to what the future holds as an outcome of close political relationships between the Government of Qatar and Iran, especially now that the US military forces are withdrawing from the country.

Historically also, these two states have been good allies, Iran was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of the State of Qatar. A month after independence, the declaration of recognition of the State of Qatar and the establishment of relations between the two countries was published. The first Iranian ambassador presented his credentials in 1972 To the Emir of the State of Qatar, while the first Qatari ambassador arrived in Iran in 1973. Neighborhood and the Islamic religion are important factors in establishing links between the Iranian people, especially the people of the southern regions of Iran and with the Qatari people in particular. Therefore, the Iranians had a distinct role in the economic development and reconstruction of Qatar. The discovery of oil in Qatar in the 1940s leaded to increase the rate of migration of the people of the cities and ports of southern Iran to Qatar.

In addition to that, in recent years, and ever since a coalition of Arab countries imposed a blockade on Doha in 2017, Qatar has come to rely on Iran’s goodwill and an ever-increasing economic partnership that has at times dovetailed into political cooperation. Relations between the two countries have never been warmer, despite the fact that one of the stated objectives of the hilariously named “Anti-Terror Quartet” – composed of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt – was to compel Doha to completely cut links with Tehran. That aspect of the barricade, like much of the rest of it, backfired spectacularly and pushed the diminutive Gulf state straight into the open arms of Tehran.

All that said, coming back to the recent event and high-level meeting between the two leaders, while some news agencies approved of the news about the gift of the $500 million aircraft from the Qatari Government to the Iranian President, some local news agencies say it is only a propaganda and only fake news.