The China Mail - How Iran's 'telegraphed' strikes on Qatari soil paved way to Israel truce

USD -
AED 3.672503
AFN 70.505939
ALL 84.00011
AMD 383.466369
ANG 1.789623
AOA 917.000124
ARS 1188.449399
AUD 1.52744
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.70212
BAM 1.667036
BBD 2.016186
BDT 122.116909
BGN 1.67059
BHD 0.377034
BIF 2974.135176
BMD 1
BND 1.272657
BOB 6.89955
BRL 5.481903
BSD 0.998577
BTN 85.532007
BWP 13.261223
BYN 3.267801
BYR 19600
BZD 2.005788
CAD 1.364301
CDF 2876.999706
CHF 0.79985
CLF 0.024274
CLP 931.50089
CNY 7.16785
CNH 7.163595
COP 4045.5
CRC 504.255401
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 94.402661
CZK 21.165198
DJF 177.719441
DKK 6.376903
DOP 59.498545
DZD 129.821018
EGP 49.900855
ERN 15
ETB 135.291978
EUR 0.854705
FJD 2.24075
FKP 0.734047
GBP 0.728603
GEL 2.720078
GGP 0.734047
GHS 10.324973
GIP 0.734047
GMD 71.479702
GNF 8654.999561
GTQ 7.679555
GYD 208.904591
HKD 7.84945
HNL 26.159718
HRK 6.4392
HTG 130.859125
HUF 341.769816
IDR 16230.8
ILS 3.39375
IMP 0.734047
INR 85.673399
IQD 1308.051944
IRR 42125.000527
ISK 121.370586
JEP 0.734047
JMD 159.973406
JOD 0.709019
JPY 144.413011
KES 129.497647
KGS 87.290802
KHR 4002.829939
KMF 420.224971
KPW 900.027852
KRW 1358.097226
KWD 0.30576
KYD 0.832151
KZT 517.854631
LAK 21564.999716
LBP 89600.000005
LKR 299.482197
LRD 200.499742
LSL 17.840237
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.425021
MAD 9.0245
MDL 16.900148
MGA 4434.999818
MKD 52.541461
MMK 2099.087708
MNT 3584.222112
MOP 8.073351
MRU 39.810122
MUR 45.231461
MVR 15.404999
MWK 1731.496201
MXN 18.880299
MYR 4.228502
MZN 63.960019
NAD 17.839727
NGN 1543.12023
NIO 36.749664
NOK 10.074306
NPR 136.857044
NZD 1.65251
OMR 0.384288
PAB 0.998496
PEN 3.5495
PGK 4.117498
PHP 56.679496
PKR 283.67501
PLN 3.626418
PYG 7972.416615
QAR 3.640601
RON 4.337204
RSD 100.183984
RUB 78.743558
RWF 1432
SAR 3.750418
SBD 8.347391
SCR 14.056987
SDG 600.502312
SEK 9.49535
SGD 1.273835
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.496659
SLL 20969.503664
SOS 570.663871
SRD 37.605983
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.737454
SYP 13001.750168
SZL 17.840022
THB 32.480249
TJS 9.875175
TMT 3.51
TND 2.869803
TOP 2.342101
TRY 39.817655
TTD 6.784717
TWD 29.076898
TZS 2632.086956
UAH 41.53477
UGX 3587.577724
UYU 40.153591
UZS 12549.999552
VES 106.17856
VND 26120
VUV 120.346013
WST 2.75099
XAF 559.132095
XAG 0.027278
XAU 0.0003
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.695366
XOF 559.132095
XPF 102.249873
YER 242.250205
ZAR 17.856665
ZMK 9001.202424
ZMW 23.540643
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

How Iran's 'telegraphed' strikes on Qatari soil paved way to Israel truce
How Iran's 'telegraphed' strikes on Qatari soil paved way to Israel truce / Photo: © AFP

How Iran's 'telegraphed' strikes on Qatari soil paved way to Israel truce

Iran's unprecedented strikes on a US base in Qatar were carefully calculated to provide an exit from hostilities with Washington and set up a truce with Israel, according to analysts and an official.

Text size:

Monday's missile launches were signalled well in advance, minimising the risk of injury and giving every opportunity to shoot down the projectiles -- resulting in a fireworks display of booms and flashes above Doha.

They followed heavy US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at the weekend, a sudden escalation that raised concerns about how Tehran, after more than a week of exchanges with Israel, would respond.

In the event, gas-rich Qatar, 190 kilometres (120 miles) south of Iran across the Gulf, held the answer in the form of Al Udeid, the Middle East's biggest US base and headquarters of its regional command.

Targeting a United States base, rather than inciting fury, triggered a calm reaction from President Donald Trump, who thanked Iran for giving "early notice".

Qatar condemned the strikes -- Iran's first on a Gulf country's territory -- but its prime minister said the response would be diplomatic and legal, rather than military.

Hours after the attack, Trump announced a ceasefire that both Israel and Iran later said they would accept. A source with knowledge of the talks said Doha had spoken to Tehran and "persuaded" it to stop fighting.

- 'Off ramp' -

Chatham House geopolitics specialist Neil Quilliam said the attack was "clearly limited" and "intended to satisfy Iran's population that its leadership responded forcibly to the US air strikes on Saturday".

Iran had promised to inflict "serious, unpredictable consequences" on the US for joining its ally Israel's campaign against the Islamic republic with strikes on three nuclear sites.

The wealthy Gulf states, which host a number of US military sites, had been preparing for days for a possible strike by Iran.

A week before Qatar was targeted, Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, tested its civil defence sirens.

Also last week, dozens of US military aircraft disappeared from the tarmac at Al Udeid, according to satellite images published by Planet Labs PBC and analysed by AFP.

In the hours before the attack, the US embassy in Qatar advised Americans there not to go out, with some other Western embassies echoing the warning.

Shortly before the strikes, air traffic was suspended over Qatar "as part of a set of precautionary measures", the country's foreign ministry said.

Ali Vaez, senior advisor at the International Crisis Group said Iran's action against Qatar was "symbolic" and "calibrated and telegraphed in a way that would not result in any American casualties, so that there is an off-ramp for both sides".

- 'Taken this punch' -

According to the source with knowledge of the talks, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani spoke to the Iranians at Washington's request after the strikes.

Trump told Qatar's emir that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire, before US Vice President JD Vance spoke to the prime minister "who persuaded Iran to agree to the proposal in a call with the Iranians", the source said.

Vaez said the "good relationship between Iran and Qatar is the reason that Iran opted to strike... the Al Udeid base in Qatar".

Before the attack, there had been speculation that Iran could target US forces based in Iraq or elsewhere in the region.

"I see this as a continuation of Qatar's mediation between Iran and the United States, that it has taken this punch as a means of trying to prevent further escalation," Vaez added.

Quilliam said: "While Qatar's official responses to the attacks condemned Iran, it also pushed forward a deeper message about ending conflict in the region."

F.Brown--ThChM