The United States’ Department of State has launched an inquiry into an allegation stating that Qatar’s royal family funded Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization, online news media the Washington Examiner reported Friday.
In April 2019, the administration of former US President Donald Trump listed the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organization.” This position remains in the new US administration.
According to the Washington Examiner website, the State Department is responsible for following up on a report on cooperation between Qatar and the Revolutionary Guards, which Israel provided to Washington.
“We are looking into this,” a State Department spokesman told the site.
According to the report, Reuven Rivlin, who was President of Israel until two weeks ago, presented “documents” related to Israel’s claim in a meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden.
Prior to Mr Rivlin’s visit to the United States, Israeli media had reported that the country’s top intelligence and security agencies had prepared a “heavy and new case” on Iran and handed it over to President Biden.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Israel Times that his country’s transfer of information to the United States was a “red flag” regarding Qatar’s actions in terms of “funding the IRGC” for White House officials.
“We fear that by returning to the JCPOA [the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], the US may be able to prevent Iran from reaching the bomb in the years ahead, but once the deal sunsets, Iran will immediately be able to restart its efforts and will have hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funds provided to them by the sanctions relief that the agreement provides,” the anonymous source added.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister met with Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran on Sunday, July 25th.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani stressed during the meeting that Qatar, while trying to “ensure regional security” with the cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is also seeking cooperation to “strengthen bilateral relations.”
Source » iranbriefing