The 15th joint coast guard meeting between Iran and Qatar was held Sunday in Tehran to develop field cooperation and boost bilateral good-neighborly relations, according to Iranian media.
The Iranian side was headed by Border Guard Commander Brigadier General Ghasem Rezaei and the Qatari delegation was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Abdulaziz Ali al-Mohannadi, assistant director-general of the country’s Coasts and Borders Security, according to IRNA.
Ties between Iran and Qatar have been bolstered since the GCC decided to boycott Doha in June 2017 after accusing it of supporting terrorism.
Last week, Tehran also received UAE Coast Guard Commander Brigadier General Mohammed Ali Musleh al-Ahbabi to discuss means of enhancing border security between the two countries.
The two sides signed on Thursday a maritime border cooperation deal and agreed to hold meetings to discuss border cooperation every six months.
On 14 July Qatar inaugurated its largest coast guard base as a standoff between Iran and the United States continues to boost tensions in strategic Gulf waters.
Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani and Commander of US Naval Forces in the Middle East Vice Admiral Jim Malloy attended the ceremony at the Al Daayen naval base in Semaisima, 30 kilometers from Doha on Qatar’s eastern coast.
Qatar, a key US ally in the region, is home to Washington’s largest Middle East military base.
Malloy, Commander of the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, said the new base was “a wonderful opportunity for us to interface more strongly with the Qatari coast guard”.
The 600,000-plus square-meter site aims to “facilitate the securing of all territorial waters of the State and border posts”, Qatar’s Interior Ministry wrote on Twitter.
It includes a “sophisticated seaport”, training and medical facilities, civil defense offices and operating rooms, the Ministry added.
Asked whether the base could enhance US-Qatari coordination on Iran, Malloy said the move was “all about maritime security, that’s what our focus is”.
