Iran’s attack on Al Udeid airbase in Qatar last week was “not harmless” but Doha opted for de-escalation in its wake, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said, in one of the most detailed accounts yet of the strikes and the ceasefire deal that followed.
Iran launched missiles at the base, which houses US troops alongside Qatari and British air forces, in response to America's strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran less than 48 hours beforehand. These prompted closure of Qatari, Kuwaiti and Bahraini airspace, and the activation of Doha’s air defence systems.
“We're talking about the huge cost on the military side and a huge cost on the economic side, because our airspace was closed for more than six hours, our national airline had to divert,” Dr Majed Al Ansari told a panel hosted by the Rome-based Institute of International Affairs.
This was, "of course, alongside the reputational damage when it comes to safety and security", he added. "This was not a harmless attack on Qatar. But again, we chose peace, because this is what we've all learnt and this is what we will do in the future.”
Qatar deployed three Patriot air defence batteries in two locations and more than 200 missiles to down all but one of 20 missiles fired on the night of Monday, June 23, said Mr Al Ansari, who is also adviser to Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The missiles were launched in two barrages of seven and 13 missiles by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The first salvo was downed at sea, while one missile from the second group landed at Al Udeid, Mr Al Ansari added. No injuries were reported, a Qatari military official said previously.
Mr Al Ansari refuted the idea that the attack was co-ordinated with the Iranians, although he said the first warning that missiles were on the way came on the morning of June 23, hours before the first one was launched around 7.30pm.
“It was an attack that we tried to make sure did not happen, that we have always been afraid of as a scenario and have always strategised against,” he said.
Qatar’s leaders “did not know for sure it was happening”, until it was launched and Mr Al Ansari was sitting alongside Mr Al Thani and Qatari Minister of State Dr Mohammed Al Khulaifi, who has led some of Doha’s interactions with Iran.
The officials then received word that US President Donald Trump wanted to engage Qatar to broker a ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel, and put an end to nearly two weeks of conflict that left hundreds dead and destroyed infrastructure in both countries.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman
The truce deal had to account for “technical information” such as finding parameters and language on which both parties would agree, Mr Al Ansari said. But equally as crucial was dealing with “the optics around the ceasefire”, he added.
“I cannot stress enough how important the national pride element was on both sides of the discussion when it came to a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, how the political narrative needed to be controlled between both sides to make sure that there was no political posturing that would lead to the collapse of a ceasefire," he said.
"Doing both together, through our discussions with both sides, liaising with the Americans, is what brought us to the ceasefire.”
Qatar was keen on de-escalation because even before the attack on Al Udeid, the Iran-Israel war had come perilously close to tis borders. On June 14, Israel hit the South Pars offshore gasfield, which connects to Qatar’s giant North gasfield in the Arabian Gulf, sending off alarm bells in Doha.
Peace through diplomacy
Iranian officials have been at pains to explain that attacking Al Udeid was a retaliation against US strikes on its nuclear sites, and there was no intention of provoking Qatar. Tehran has been attempting to improve its relations with neighbouring countries in recent years.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian “expressed his regret” to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim in a phone call the day after the attack, according to a statement from the emir’s office. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said at the that Iran “remains fully committed to its good-neighbourliness policy with respect to the State of Qatar". The “violation” was “completely inconsistent with the principle of good neighbourliness". the emir’s statement read.
The truce will hold as long as the renewed peace paves the way for diplomatic interaction over Iran’s nuclear programme, Mr Al Ansari said. “We do believe that the ceasefire will hold, as long as the momentum that was created by the ceasefire will lead to other positive points,” he said.
“We have seen the positive statements of the US regarding talks with Iran. We've seen some positive statements coming in from Iran talks with the US, kick-starting that process immediately, and making sure that we have talks on the wider issues is the only safeguard against another escalation taking place.”
US President Donald Trump last week claimed negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme would resume “next week”. Iranian officials have denied that talks have been scheduled and want guarantees that future discussions will not be interrupted by military operations. They are believed to be seeking some concessions in terms of sanctions relief or other incentives as a sign, Iranian sources previously told The National, of Washington’s sincerity in negotiations. That could prove difficult for the Trump administration.
The EU and Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, including Qatar, can work together to ensure peace continues through diplomacy, Mr Al Ansari said. He highlighted Oman and Italy, which hosted five rounds of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington before the Israeli attacks prompted a cancellation of a sixth.
“It showed very clearly that between Europe as a whole, the GCC as a whole, we can do a lot together,” he said.
Regional peace can come only with a solution for the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Mr Al Ansari added. Conflicts across the region are not only destabilising countries including Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen – they are causing a “a wave of radicalisation and negative sentiment towards the West that we should not take lightly", he said. This is not a by-product but a “major result” of the escalation that lasted for nearly two years.
“It will lead to problems for all of us, collectively in the region, unless we are able to deal with it.”
