Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Doha on Wednesday, just days after Tehran fired missiles toward Qatari territory and other Gulf states, in a visit that underscored the Islamic Republic's attempt to produce a specific narrative for its Arab neighbors and send a message to Washington.
Araghchi, according to the Foreign Ministry, made the journey to “meet with Qatari authorities and offer his condolences” after the death of former Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
The visit came days after the IRGC confirmed it fired on Qatar, claiming it was targeting the Al Udeid US base where satellite imagery released by Soar Atlas confirmed some level of damage to American aircraft maintenance facilities, leading to civilian injuries. Doha said that three people, including a child, were injured by falling shrapnel in the attack.
Qatari media noted that Araghchi’s visit came at the tail end of visits by foreign officials expressing their condolences, with Al Jazeera theorizing that the decision might have been a deliberate way the foreign minister could avoid “awkwardness” with other diplomats.
International relations expert Dr. Arman Mahmoudian, research fellow at the University of South Florida’s Global and National Security Institute, told The Jerusalem Post that he believed the visit was part of Iran’s efforts to emphasize lines in its narrative that it is not targeting the Gulf but the US, and poses no regional danger as long as its demands are met.
'It is expected of Muslim and noble nations to expel these child killers, occupiers'
Highlighting this, Mahmoudian noted that only days ago the IRGC issued a statement addressing the Kuwaiti and Jordanian public, pushing the narrative that the attack is not on them but the American military assets based there.
“Honorable and noble people of Kuwait and the holy land of Jordan, it is expected of you Muslim and noble nations to expel these child-killers and occupiers from your soil,” the IRGC statement read.
“The pure soil of the land of Kuwait and the sacred land of Jordan, the sanctuary of the prophets, must not remain under the occupation of criminals who, in just the past two years, have martyred seventy thousand Palestinians - including twenty thousand children - in heroic Gaza and perpetrated the Minah School massacre.
“We expect you not to miss any opportunity to destroy the aggressive American institutions and to liberate the Islamic lands from the bases of the American occupiers.”
Despite its claims, Gulf nations have had to swallow damages and the human cost of Iran’s attacks. Kuwait’s military announced on Tuesday that one of its navy vessels was targeted in an Iranian attack, which led to four armed forces personnel being injured.
The statement, Mahmoudian said, may be a sign Iran is “attempting to contain the escalation and prevent it from damaging its broader relations with Arab states.”
Arghchi visit part of broader effort to limit diplomatic consequences
“The Araghchi visit could therefore be part of a broader effort to reassure regional governments and limit the diplomatic consequences of the attacks,” he commented.
In addition to pushing its narrative across the Gulf, Mahmoudian said that the visit may also be some form of indirect communication with the United States.
“It is notable that this is happening around the same time that Iran released an Iranian-American dual national who had been detained by the Iranian authorities late last year,” he commented.
Iran agreed on Wednesday to release Dena Karari, who was charged with espionage during the June war while running a charity for impoverished Iranian children.
“Historically, this has been a recurring feature of covert diplomacy between Iran and the United States: Iranian officials visit third countries that frequently serve as mediators, while the release of detained citizens can signal diplomatic movement behind the scenes,” Mahmoudian said.
“I would therefore say that the visit likely serves both purposes: reassuring regional countries and facilitating an indirect exchange of messages with Washington.”