Iran FM visits Qatar days after missile attack

Iran said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to Qatar on Wednesday to pay tribute to its deceased former emir, days after the Islamic republic launched salvos at the gas-rich emirate.

Araghchi is scheduled to “meet with Qatari authorities and offer his condolences”, the foreign ministry of Iran said in a statement, following the death on Sunday of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who ruled the Gulf state from 1995 to 2013.

The visit comes amid renewed hostilities between Iran and the United States, which have surged to a scale unseen since an April ceasefire.

The Middle East war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which retaliated by launching attacks on Israel and US interests across the Gulf.

The latest fighting has endangered a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war that was reached last month with Qatari and Pakistani mediation.

The confrontation resumed earlier this month after attacks on ships in the Gulf that were blamed on Iran.

The US military is primarily targeting coastal areas where Tehran claims control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, which hosts the largest American base in the Middle East, said it was targeted by an Iranian attack on Sunday.