The US State Department has opened an inquiry into an Israeli government report that Qatar’s monarchy funded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
The alleged terror finance activities of the Islamic regime in Doha surfaced during last month’s Oval Office meeting between President Joe Biden and outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
Rivlin furnished the White House with intelligence regarding “recent funding that Qatar provided to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the Times of Israel reported.
Rivlin’s White House meeting coincided with a U.S. Army statement saying that the U.S. has closed sprawling bases in Qatar that once stored warehouses full of weaponry and transferred the remaining supplies to Jordan.
The move analysts say positions Washington to deal better with Iran and reflects the military’s changing priorities in the region.
The tiny monarchy of Qatar, rich from natural gas and oil, has been embroiled in allegations that it has financed a wide range of Sunni and Shia terrorist states and movements, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Islamic State.
The fresh allegations from Rivlin may create new tensions between Qatar and the U.S., which has nearly 10,000 military personnel stationed at the Gulf state’s al Udeid Air Base.
The Biden administration is once again confronted with a crisis with Qatar because the monarchy ruled by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani has been repeatedly alleged to finance Islamic-animated terrorist movements that seek to kill Americans.
Qatar’s status as an alleged leading state sponsor of international terrorism might also complicate its role in hosting the World Cup in 2022 .
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