Trump appeals for Qatar’s help in persuading Iran to give up nuclear programme
Qatar over the years has played the role of intermediary between the US and Iran.
President Donald Trump urged Qatar to use its influence over Iran to persuade the country’s leadership to reach an agreement with the US to dial back its rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
Mr Trump, who is visiting the Gulf nation as part of a three-country Middle East tour, made the appeal during a state dinner held in his honour by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Qatar over the years has played the role of intermediary between the US and Iran and its proxies, including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as its 19-month war with Israel grinds on.
“I hope you can help me with the Iran situation,” Mr Trump said during remarks at the formal dinner.
“It’s a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing.”
The appeal to Qatar came after Mr Trump told leaders at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting earlier on Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that he wants “to make a deal,” but Tehran must end its support of proxy groups throughout the Middle East as part of any potential agreement.
The US and Iran brokered a nuclear deal in 2015, during Democrat Barack Obama’s administration, in which Iran agreed to drastically reduce its stockpile of uranium and only enrich up to 3.67%.
But that deal was scrapped during the first Trump administration.
Today, Iran enriches up to 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, and has enough stockpiled for multiple nuclear bombs should it choose to build them.
The Qatari emir did not directly address the Iran issue in his public appearances with Mr Trump. Instead, he focused on the potential to expand the US-Qatar defence and economic partnership to “another level of relations.”
The US and Iran have engaged in four rounds of talks since early last month about the country’s nuclear programme. Mr Trump has said that he believes brokering a nuclear deal is possible but that the window is closing.
At the state dinner, he called on Iran’s leadership to “get moving” or risk the situation spiralling into a head-on conflict.
“Because things like that get started and they get out of control,” Mr Trump said. “I’ve seen it over and over again. They go to war and things get out of control, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
Mr Trump in his appearance at the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Riyadh also said that Tehran “must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease pursuit of nuclear weapons” as conditions for any deal.
The call for Iran to cease support of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen comes as that proxy network has faced significant setbacks in the 19 months since Hamas launched its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In Iran, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called Mr Trump’s remarks “deceitful” but did not directly address his demands.
Mr Trump said that he also believed the moment was ripe “for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah terrorists.” Hezbollah is severely weakened after its war last year with Israel in which much of its top leadership was killed and after losing a key ally with the fall of former Syrian president Bashar Assad, a conduit for Iran to send arms.
While in Riyadh, Mr Trump also met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a face-to-face engagement with the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by US forces after being captured in Iraq.
Mr al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by Mr al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stormed Damascus and ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
Mr Trump said he decided to meet with Mr al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He also pledged to lift years-long sanctions on Syria.
The White House billed the al-Sharaa meeting as a brief “pull aside” that ended up lasting 33 minutes.
Mr Trump told reporters that the meeting went “great” and described him as a “young, attractive guy” with a “very strong past.”
“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” Mr Trump said.
