Qatar PM condemns Iran attacks in call with foreign minister

Qatar’s prime minister condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf states in a call with Tehran’s foreign minister Wednesday, the first high-level contact since the Islamic republic launched its missile and drone campaign.

Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani accused Iran of seeking to “harm its neighbours and drag them into a war that is not theirs”, on the call with Iran’s Abbas Araghchi, according to a statement by Qatar’s foreign ministry.

Gulf countries have borne much of Tehran’s response since the US and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran over the weekend with an 11-year-old girl killed in Kuwait on Wednesday by falling shrapnel.

Thirteen people, seven of them civilians, have been killed in countries around the Gulf since the war began.

The Pentagon has announced the deaths of six US servicemen since Saturday, four of them in Kuwait.

The Qatari prime minister urged “an immediate halt to these attacks” on the call and said Iran had “struck civilian and residential areas” despite Araghchi’s assertion “the Iranian missile attacks were directed at US interests and did not target the State of Qatar”.

“These attacks cannot pass without a response,” Sheikh Mohammed added.

Kuwait’s health ministry said “resuscitation was performed in the ambulance while the girl was being transported to the hospital,” adding attempts continued for nearly half an hour at Al-Amiri Hospital but she “passed away due to her injuries”.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar said they had intercepted Iranian drone and missile barrages, with the UAE reporting it engaged three ballistic missiles and intercepted 121 of 129 drones, while Qatar said it shot down 10 drones and two cruise missiles.

Stocks drop 
Earlier, Kuwait’s military said it detected incoming projectiles and was working to intercept the missiles and drones in its airspace.

Bahrain said residents could register as volunteers to aid war efforts in sectors including health.

In Saudi Arabia, the defence ministry said two cruise missiles were intercepted over an area south of the capital Riyadh, which is also home to the sprawling Prince Sultan air base, and several drones were destroyed after entering its airspace.

Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it intercepted a drone targeting its massive Ras Tanura refinery on the Gulf coast, days after a Monday strike on the complex forced some operations to halt following a fire.

“Initial estimates indicate that the attack was carried out by a drone and did not result in any damage,” the ministry said in a statement.

The war continued to rattle the Gulf elsewhere with stocks dropping sharply in the United Arab Emirates on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi exchanges after a two-day trading suspension.

The main Dubai index fell 4.7 percent, while Abu Dhabi’s dropped nearly two percent.

Qatar authorities also announced they had dismantled two spy cells linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, its official press agency reported.

“Close surveillance made it possible to arrest 10 suspects: seven were tasked with spying and gathering information about vital and military infrastructure in the country, and three were meant to carry out sabotage operations,” the agency said.

Iranian missiles and drones have slammed Gulf states’ cities and infrastructure, upending relations with Tehran and placing the neighbours on a potential course for greater military confrontation.