Reports indicate that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi plans to visit Qatar on Thursday in his first foreign trip to a Gulf Arab neighbor since he took power in August.
Reports from Iran’s state-run news agency express that Raisi would visit Doha on Thursday to attend the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in the Qatari capital.
Both countries share the world’s biggest natural gas field.
After years of suspicion and proxy conflict, Gulf Arab states have been trying to engage Iran. Recently, an invitation to the Iranian president was given in December by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after its national security adviser paid a rare visit to Tehran.
Following years of tension, via talks mediated by Iraq, Iran has also sought to re-establish diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia. These efforts come as Iran seeks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that the US withdrew from in 2018.
Currently, world powers in Vienna are at a critical stage in talks aimed at ending a standoff between Tehran and Washington. Russia’s top envoy in these talks said on Sunday that negotiations had entered their “final stage.”
