Author: Andrew Bernard/JNS.org/Washington

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani slammed his Iranian counterpart for “flagrant” violations of Qatar’s sovereignty on Wednesday in the first publicly revealed call between a Gulf Arab state and the Islamic Republic since the start of the recent conflict. According to the Qatari readout of the discussion, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi claimed that Iran’s missile and drone strikes against Qatar were “directed at American interests and were not intended to target the Gulf state.” “These Iranian actions reflected ‘an escalatory approach’ and did not indicate any genuine desire for de-escalation,” the Qatari foreign ministry stated.…