In the final days of the war, Doha reached a secret agreement with Tehran that led to a significant reduction in Iranian attacks on Qatar, Kan News reported on Motzei Shabbos.

A senior government official from a Gulf state confirmed rumors of a deal between the two countries to Kan News correspondent, Roi Kais, saying that “understandings” were reached after Iran’s strike on a major gas facility in northern Qatar.

According to the source, Iran agreed to scale back its attacks in exchange for a change in tone by Qatar’s popular Al-Jazeera media network, moving to a less aggressive tone towards Iran and allowing more airtime to Iranian spokespeople.

“This did indeed happen,” the source said, explaining that Tehran views Al Jazeera as a major and influential messaging platform to the Arab world. One of the prominent figures given airtime was Hassan Ahmadian from the University of Tehran, who appeared on both Al Jazeera’s Arabic and English channels.

These appearances came as the network’s tone toward Iran reportedly indeed softened, compared to earlier in the war when it broadcast strong condemnation of Iran’s attacks in the Gulf.

At one stage, Iran’s state broadcasting authority even threatened to strike Al Jazeera’s offices in Doha, but later withdrew the threat and removed the evacuation warning. Qatar, for its part, rejected any link between the threat and a change in editorial policy.

Qatar has firmly denied these claims.

Kan News noted that it is important to remember that Qatar is considered one of the closest Gulf states to Iran under normal circumstances and has maintained diplomatic relations with Tehran even during periods of regional tension.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)