American Foundation: Qatar’s financing of terrorism threatens its hosting of the World Cup
Washington | Times of Sudan
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies revealed that the US State Department has opened an investigation into intel provided by Israel that Qatar funds the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which the United States designates a terrorist organization.
The foundation confirmed that the alleged terrorist financing activities of the Doha regime were revealed during the meeting between US President Joe Biden and his outgoing Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin.
The American Foundation said that Rivlin provided the White House with intel on “the recent funding provided by Qatar to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”
In turn, an Israeli diplomatic official said, on condition of anonymity, that the information alarmed US officials at the meeting. <<the Times of Israel reported>>
On the other hand, the Washington Examiner reported that it called several Israeli government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but they all remained silent on the issue.
Although Israeli governments succinctly reject the false news reports, their lack of denial indicates that the intel is serious and has been sent to the Biden administration.
In turn, the “Washington Examiner” newspaper requested comment from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its embassies in Washington and Berlin, but remained without a response.
The Quds Force, a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which is largely responsible for terrorist operations outside Iran, killed more than 600 American military personnel in the Middle East, but after the killing of its leader, General Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike in Iraq In January 2020, he appointed Esmail Qaani as his successor.
New tensions
The new information provided by Rivlin is expected to cause new tensions between Qatar and the United States, which has about 10,000 military personnel stationed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
It stressed that the Biden administration is once again facing a crisis with Qatar, because the regime ruled by Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has repeatedly been alleged to finance extremist terrorist movements that seek to kill Americans.
The World Cup is in danger
The foundation noted that the Tamim regime, which rules a country rich in natural gas and oil, has been implicated in allegations that it has funded a range of countries and Sunni and Shiite terrorist movements, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and ISIS.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies stated that Qatar’s status as a country facing accusations of sponsoring international terrorism may complicate its role in hosting the 2022 World Cup.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and they discussed the crises afflicting Afghanistan, Yemen and Lebanon, while the latter supported US calls to promote “peace and security.”
American response
According to the Israeli information, a spokesperson for the US State Department told the Washington Examiner that his country is investigating these allegations, noting that Qatar and the United States have a strong strategic and security partnership to combat terrorism.
The US official explained that Qatar is one of the closest military allies of the United States in the region, stressing that the military and security cooperation between the United States and Qatar contributes to the safety and stability of the region.
Step on the ground
Rivlin’s meeting at the White House last month coincided with a statement by the US military, carried by the newspaper “Stars and Stripes”, in which he said that the United States had closed sprawling bases in Qatar, which once stored warehouses full of weapons, and transferred the remaining supplies to Jordan, in a move analysts say: reflects Washington’s positions to better deal with Iran and the military’s shifting priorities in the region.
The military source said that the United States closed the main camp of Al-Sailiya, the southern Al-Sailiya camp, and the Falcon ammunition depot.
