Qatar and the United States are close to finalizing an agreement on enhanced defense cooperation, senior US diplomat Marco Rubio said, quoted by Reuters. This comes after Israel's attack on Hamas political leaders in Qatar last week, which was strongly condemned, News.bg reports.
The attack in Doha was particularly sensitive because Qatar is a close US ally and hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East. Qatar is also mediating the ceasefire talks in the Gaza war along with Egypt. Rubio called on Qatar to continue its role as mediator and noted that there is a “very short period“ to achieve agreement.
“We have a close partnership with the Qataris. In fact, we have an agreement for enhanced defense cooperation that we are working on and are on the verge of finalizing,“ Rubio said, without providing details.
Qatar called Israel's attack “cowardly and treacherously“ but assured that it would not deter it from mediating. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to attack “Hamas“ leaders “wherever they are“, while Trump said he was unhappy with Israel's unilateral strike and assured the Qataris that such actions would not be repeated.