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GCC was 'hit 10 mins after President's apology': Qatar PM slams 'reckless' Iran actions
He emphasised that regional countries do not want to be part of the war and are seeking an immediate cessation of hostilities, always preferring a diplomatic solution
- PUBLISHED: Tue 10 Mar 2026, 7:20 PM
[Editor's Note: Follow Khaleej Times live blog amid US-Israel-Iran war for the latest regional developments.]
Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has strongly condemned Iranian attacks on the State of Qatar and other Gulf countries, saying the justifications provided by Tehran are 'totally rejected'.
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In an interview with Sky News, he praised the professionalism of Qatari armed forces and security services in protecting the country, its citizens, residents, and visitors.
"Unfortunately, it's been very difficult for the entire country," Sheikh Mohammed said. "But we have our defence and security personnel doing a great job in defending the country and its people. They have demonstrated a professional way of dealing with all these threats that are coming from Iran."
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"We never expected this to come to us from our neighbour. We were always building this relationship, preserving the good neighbourhood and relationship in good faith with Iran. Unfortunately, there are like some justifications and pretexts that they've been using to justify these attacks on the state of Qatar and other countries, which are totally rejected". He said.
He described Iran's actions as "betrayal" and said the strikes were pre-planned, hitting Qatar and other Gulf states immediately after the outbreak of war.
"And all of us before this war, we've been saying and repeating that we are not going to take part in any attacks or any wars against our neighbours. We would like to see a peaceful neighbourhood. We were helping Iran and the United States in reaching diplomatic solutions," he said.
"But this miscalculation by the Iranians to attack the Gulf countries has destroyed everything."
Sheikh Mohammed said the strikes targeted not only military facilities but also civilian infrastructure, energy installations, industrial complexes, and even drinking water systems.
He slammed the attacks as "a reckless act" and confirmed that Qatar has the capacity and trained personnel to protect the country, minimise civilian impact, and maintain the functioning of vital services.
"We have the capability and the personnel to make sure that the country is defended and that none of the people are affected by these attacks," he said.
He stressed that Qatar will never accept attacks on civil or energy infrastructure, either in its own territory or elsewhere, including Iran.
"This has been our position (in) Russia and Ukraine; this has been our position in Gaza; this has been our position in what's happening currently and will be applied everywhere," he said.
He noted that on the second day of the war, one of the main Iranian attacks targeted a gas facility, creating a high level of risk that forced Qatar to declare force majeure and temporarily halt operations.
Commenting on the Iranian President's statements promising to stop attacks on neighbouring states, he said, "Everyone was hopeful, including us, (but) even right after he made his statement, we had an attack like 10 minutes later."
"And I was thinking that this might take some time in order to ensure that everyone had the instruction to halt these attacks." But we got really shocked when the attacks were massively against the UAE and Bahrain in the afternoon while we were working, actually at the same time as other GCC countries came out with collectively expressing that this is what we want to see."
He emphasised that regional countries do not want to be part of the war and are seeking an immediate cessation of hostilities, always preferring a diplomatic solution.
"However, while we were discussing this with our GCC colleagues, their countries were attacked. That was our last hope before Bahrain was struck directly. We witnessed a massive attack on Bahrain at the same moment, and 30 minutes later, Doha itself was hit," he said.
He affirmed that Qatar reserves the full right to defend itself and will deter any threats, a principle that allows no compromise.
"We are not part of this war. We don't want to be a part of that war. We don't want to be dragged into it. But defending our country will remain a principle that will never change. We will take every measure...every action to ensure that no attacks come to us", he added.
On the broader situation, amid US calls for Iran to surrender and Tehran's claim it can continue fighting for another six months, he said, "Our position and our principle will never change: that war always ends around the negotiation table with a diplomatic solution." And all of us, we would like to see a de-escalation in the region as soon as possible."
