In Playing Both Sides of the U.S-Iran Conflict, Qatar Exposed Its Achilles Heel

While cooperation between Baghdad and Washington to reduce Iranian influence in Iraq is a positive sign, as is America’s renewed willingness to respond to Iranian provocations with force, the truth remains that the U.S. reached a seemingly disadvantageous agreement with Tehran last month. Part of the blame likely lies with the mediators, Pakistan and Qatar, who are hardly disinterested parties. Doha’s approach to mediation follows the model created by Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who ruled the country from 1995 until he relinquished power in favor of his son in 2013. Sheikh Hamad died on Sunday at the age of seventy-four.