Qatar’s emir to visit Iran – Details
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saied Khatibzadeh announced an “expected visit” by Qatari Emir Sheik Tamim bin Hamad to Tehran.
Speaking at a press conference today, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “There is an upcoming visit by the Emir of Qatar to Tehran and it comes in response to the Iranian president’s visit to Doha”, Iran’s Al-Alam reported.
“The Emir of Qatar’s visit will focus on issues related to bilateral relations between the two countries and the rest of the Gulf region”, he added.
Reuters quoted an informed source as saying: The Emir of Qatar will visit Iran, Germany, Britain and other European countries on a trip beginning this week, in which he is expected to discuss efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement and energy security in Europe.
According to the source, “the main focus of the talks will be on how to (bridge the gap) in the nuclear talks that have been stalled since March, as well as liquefied natural gas and energy security in the European phase of the trip”.
The source said: The emir’s trip also aims to bring the parties to the Iran nuclear deal to a “new common ground”.
Ali Salehabadi, governor of the Central Bank of Iran, and Mohammed bin Hamad al-Hajri, Qatar’s ambassador to Tehran, held preliminary consultations on “the release of frozen Iranian assets”, and commented that the meeting “may pave the way for new news”.
On April 13, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced that an agreement had been reached with an external bank to release Iran’s frozen assets. He noted that a delegation from one of the countries visited Tehran and held consultations with the Central Bank and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy. We reached a tentative agreement on how and when to release Iran’s frozen assets.
The confirmation of Abdollahian came six days after a report in the Farhikhtegan newspaper, close to Ali Akbar Velayati, the adviser to the Iranian Supreme Leader, indicated that the assets frozen under an exchange deal would soon be released for the release of three Americans of Iranian origin.
