Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rahman Al Thani announced his country’s decision to reject normalization of relations with Tel Aviv regime until the regime ends its occupation of the Palestinian lands.

The main reason Qatar doesn’t have relations with Israel “is the occupation of the Palestinian territories,” Al Thani told CNBC television news network in an interview broadcast on Friday.

“The reason is still there, still valid, and there is no … step or any hope toward peace yet. We didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” the foreign minister added.

The top Qatari diplomat pointed out that normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv regime won’t solve the long-standing problems between Israel and the Palestinians.

His remarks come as Kuwait’s National Assembly last week strongly condemned the latest Israeli military’s acts of aggression against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds besides its bloody military onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, and unanimously approved legislations that outlaw any deals or normalization of ties with the Tel Aviv regime.

Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah had earlier reiterated the kingdom’s unswerving support for the Palestinian nation and their struggle for the liberation of their land occupied by the Israeli regime.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Qatari foreign minister said Doha is willing to facilitate talks between Washington and Tehran.

“(The) US is a strategic ally for Qatar, and we want to maintain this strategic alliance,” he said. On the other hand, Iran is “our next-door neighbor, and we want to see stability over there.”

He said Qatar would be willing to facilitate discussions if asked.
“Right now, we are just conveying the message for both parties to … be more positive and more constructive in engaging with each other, and to reach a deal as soon as possible,” he said.

Since April, representatives from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries have been holding talks in Vienna aimed at revitalizing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and bringing the US back to compliance.

The US has sent a delegation to Vienna but it is not attending the JCPOA Joint Commission talks directly as Washington is no longer a party to the deal. It has, however, held separate talks with the other parties to the JCPOA.

The US, under former president Donald Trump, left the JCPOA in 2018 and returned the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran as part of the agreement.

President Joe Biden has said Washington is willing to return to the deal if Tehran first suspends its countermeasures taken in response to US violations and re-imposition of sanctions.

Iran says the onus is on the US to revive the deal as it was Washington, not Tehran, that left the internationally recognized accord in defiance of global criticism.

Al Thani went on to say that Qatar sees a need for a regional security framework between Iran and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“We believe it’s important that we have the leadership of such a dialogue and not leave it for other countries,” he said.

“We appreciate and respect (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council) to be part of this, to be (a) supporter for this, but the core of this dialogue should be handled by the GCC and Iran,” the Qatari foreign minister pointed out.

Earlier this year, Al Thani had called on GCC member states to enter negotiations with neighboring Iran in order to patch up their differences.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg television news network, the top Qatari diplomat said the time was right for Doha to broker such talks, and that he has long called for a summit between leaders of the six-member council and Iranian officials.

He said his government was “hopeful that this would happen and we still believe this should happen.”

“This is also a desire that’s shared by other GCC countries,” the Qatari foreign minister said.