Qatar restores full diplomatic ties with Iran

Qatar restores full diplomatic ties with Iran
Qatar announced on Thursday the restoration of full diplomatic ties with Iran, 20 months after Doha broke them off with Tehran.
2 min read
24 August, 2017
Qatar restored full diplomatic relations with Iran [Anadolu]
Qatar restored full diplomatic relations with Iran early on Thursday, its foreign ministry announced.

It comes 20 months after diplomatic relations between the two counties were cut following a diplomatic row between Iran and Gulf states.

"The state of Qatar expressed its aspiration to strengthen bilateral relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in all fields," a short Foreign Ministry statement said.

Earlier, the ministry announced on its website that its ambassador to Tehran "will return to resume his diplomatic duties."

Iranian state media acknowledged the development, without elaborating.

Doha recalled it ambassador from Tehran in January 2016, after a diplomatic embargo on Shia-majority Iran was announced by a number of Arab states.

It came after Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashahd were attacked by Iranian protesters angered about Riyadh's execution of a popular Shia cleric.

The move defies the demands of the Arab nations currently locked in a regional dispute with the oil-rich state, who have called on Qatar to lessen its ties to Tehran.

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain have enforced a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar following a recent diplomatic dispute with.

"Qatar has shown it is going to go in a different direction," Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University told AP.

"It could very well be calculated toward reinforcing the point that Qatar will not bow to this regional pressure placed upon it."

There was no immediate reaction from the Arab nations blockading Qatar.