Strait of Hormuz shouldn’t be used as a ‘weapon in war’, warns Qatar’s PM

Añadido: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]All right, let's take you to a press conference. Qatar's Prime Minister Muhammad bin Abdahman Basim Althani speaking alongside Turkey's foreign minister.

[00:00:10]>> The continued uh consultation between both our respective countries. It comes amid very dire circumstances our region is living especially the and namely the war on Iran as well as the development unfolding in the straight of Hermuz and the freedom of the maritime trade maritime movement which unfortunately has been used as a weapon In this war, we discussed the most significant developments on this war and the repercussions on the Gulf States, specifically the economic repercussions of the war on the Gulf States in addition to other regional issues including the recent escalations in the Gaza Strip. and the continued Israeli violations bombarding innocent civilians and the imposing the forceful displacement policies on the Gaza Strip and the denial the unlawful denial of humanitarian aids by thus weaponizing the relief aid in addition to their disrespect to the ceasefire on Lebanon and the Israeli continued air strikes on the Lebanese villages and towns to the south of the country in addition to the continued threats and um issued by the Israeli occupation forces against the Lebanese people. These are all dire circumstances which require all the friendly and brotherly states to continue in being engaged in continued uh consultation and Turkey comes as among the leading partners with whom we always consult. With respect to the war on Iran, both our respective countries, Qatar and Turkey, jointly support the Pakistani mediation as well as the efforts made by the brotherly state of Pakistan, aiming to reach a solution to this war, hoping to reach a ceasefire and ending the war totally and reopening the street of Horses to re allow the free movement of maritime traffic.

[00:02:49]We also continue to consult and coordinate with our brothers uh heads of Gulf States and other regional countries in order to arrive at the most conceivable formula that would uh be conducive to restoring peace and order in the region.

[00:03:10]There are a myriad of issues that should be resolved de through diplomacy with Iran in future.

[00:03:20]Also, the bilateral relations between Qatar and Turkey are robust, solid and our partnership date back long ago and they were further augmented by our respective leaders. We always aim at coordinating with our brothers in Turkey on all fronts be it in geopolitics, military, economy, energy and other domains. Once again, I welcome my dear brother uh your excellency uh foreign minister and I thank you for the important discussions we jointly had earlier and we look forward to continued coordination and consultation between our both countries and official institutions.

[00:04:20]>> In the name of Allah the omnibet and the merciful. My dear brother, thank you for your kind words and at the outset I would like to extend my appreciation to the representatives of the media and I thank my counterpart for the warm reception and generous hospitality. As you are aware uh I paid a visit to Qatar about two months ago and here in presence of the mass media we sent out a message to the international community and as we live exceptional circumstances we are here again discussing very critical issues. We had the opportunity to discuss them at length in the morning. I was received by his royal highness the amir of Quran Muhammad Alani where I conveyed the greetings of the Turkish presidents and I also conveyed the critical message sent out by President Ardugan with respect to the original issues. I had ample time to listen the views of his royal highness theQar on the developments unfolding in the region.

[00:05:33]the developments uh unfolding demand that we be engaged in more than consultation in order to arrive our desired goals.

[00:05:44]I am on constant communication with my dear brother uh together with my counterparts in Saudi Arabia Kuwait. I had a number of telephone communications in addition to official visits once again.

[00:06:04]As to the ongoing negotiations, we are totally in support of our brothers in Pakistan and their mediation efforts. We should not or we cannot see the war erupting again. This war will bring nothing but more instability not only to the region but the entire world. They would bring about total destruction and devastation to the whole world and we hope that the mediation efforts would bear fruit. Together with our brothers and partners we are doing all what we can. Therefore all these efforts as being exerted are uh we will continue to support them by all forms.

[00:06:51]The closure of the straight formers has a dire impact not only on the supply chains but the global energy markets. It will continue to uh cast pressures on the governments of the world. All the world states are now feeling the brunt of the closure of the straight of hormos. That's why we urge that an agreement be reached, the straight of forms be reopened and the free traffic movement be allowed.

[00:07:22]On the other hand, and together with my dear friend, we discussed bilateral relations in addition to other regional issues namely the situation in Gaza Strip. He himself also put it in plain words that we are faced with apart from the war in the Gulf shouldn't uh cause us to lose sight of the situation in Gaza. As you know the genocide unfolding that was unfolding in Gaza and the continued denial of the relief aid as well as the Israeli violation of the ceasefire in Lebanon, the situation in Syria and Libya. Also all these expansion policies cause grave losses not only in human lives but on all fronts. Many of civilians are now either forcibly migrated or displaced. We together with the international community should continue to closely monitor and discuss the situation.

[00:08:25]The matter has come to a catastrophic levels in Gaza. We exchanged views on the situation on all these issues and what we see the exceptional situation and which I attempted to brief you as media representatives. All these issues demand that we should continue to engage in further extensive uh discussions and consultations. Our relations are robust on all fronts and the president of Turkey as well as the Amir ofQatar, his Royal High Tamim bin Mhammed Alani had a firm desire as well as a political will to cement our bilateral relations based on uh mutual respect. Our relations withered through all the crisis and challenges. We are aimed at achieving tangible results on all these issues.

[00:09:29]And once again, I thank you my dear brother for the warm reception and generous hospitality. And now the floor is open to question.

[00:09:43]>> The Turkish Anadol agency. I uh start by thanking both of you on Gaza. You have made great efforts uh started by and we as part of the global media. I extend thanks and appreciation to you on the negotiations.

[00:10:12]There is a possibility that the war on Iran would erupt once again.

[00:10:18]What is the latest on the negotiations taking place in Pakistan especially that you are playing a role in this? A second question on the free maritime traffic in the straight of Hormus which is very significant.

[00:10:37]Are you planning for a regional dynamic together with Qatar on controlling the traffic in the street of Hormos?

[00:10:46]>> First of all, I would like to highlight that uh we do not support uh the resumption of war. we we should always focus our our support on on the Pakistanis effort in order to resolve uh this issue and try to end the war as soon as possible and to end this current status that we have uh unfortunately uh in the region. I think that uh the role that Pakistan is playing is is very important and critical for for the entire region and for the world and for as his excellency brother Hakan just mentioned that this crisis is not only affecting the region but it's affecting everything uh in the globe which is basically the energy security the freedom of navigation setting new precedents for things that are uh uh were not acceptable and will never be acceptable for our countries.

[00:11:46]Uh both Qatar and Turkey are coordinating the efforts and uh supporting the Pakistani diplomacy in reaching a resolution uh as soon as possible. uh unfortunately in any type of negotiations you'll always have ups and downs and uh I think that it's it's a very important responsibility from us as countries in the region and uh uh from other countries in the world to ensure that the resumption of war uh uh not happening and uh continuation of uh uh diplomacy is the only way forward regarding the freedom of navigation and the disruption that's happening unfortunately right now uh uh in the straight of Hormos and uh uh those military operations uh uh uh that are uh conducted over there are not helping in deescalating the situation.

[00:12:48]uh Iran should uh uh not use this uh straight as as a weapon uh uh to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries. Uh it's an international water corridor that should be always protected and should be always safeguarded. uh this uh uh current state of of the strait uh uh and what's happening over there should never be repeated and it should be uh put very clear uh that anything happens to the strait in the future uh uh by any country they should be penalized for doing such a thing from the very outset we have been together with Qatar uh providing all necessary support to the negotiations and the mediation efforts u made by our brothers in Pakistan deserve all uh praise. However, I would like to speak of the positive side. Both the sides are hoping that the war would come to an end and the trade will foremost be opened and the nuclear detail be linked to the negotiations where the matter would be crowned with a total resolution. However, what is the nature and the priorities or in other words the phrases through which the agreement would be forged in order to turn into a final agreement. The messages are being sent out in both the directions and what are the nature of these messages. I hope that these mediation efforts would bear for it at the earliest. Uh we cannot even think of the re eruption of the war which will bring nothing but more killing and more devastation. We are supporting for the ending of total end of the war and not to allow the state of horses being weaponized. This is very crucial for the stability and the security of the region. It is also equally important to the stability of the whole world and the global markets.

[00:15:08]The maritime traffic should be freed and all these matters are totally supported.

[00:15:18]Now we are giving priority to reviving the diplomatic and amicable solutions.

[00:15:25]Through diplomacy we can have the state of homes reopened and this is what we push for on all venues.

[00:15:40]My first question to the Qatari foreign minister. What is the role played by Qatar in supporting the Pakistani mediation efforts and the endeavor to reach uh diplomatic solutions? Are you trying to bring closer the views of Thran and Washington? A question to the Turkish foreign minister. What is the nature and level of coordination between DHA and and KA on the Iranian issue on other regional questions and how do you assess the Israelis uh demeanors in this respect with respect to diplomacy and diplomatic efforts being exerted? I had a visit a couple of days ago to the United States uh during which I focused mainly on supporting the Pakistani mediation efforts and there should be more positive response to these diplomatic efforts hoping a solution be reached at the earliest. At the same time, I demonstrated to the Americans the impact of the war had caused on the region, the more it drags on, it will bring no it will be of no interest to any party be it in the region or beyond.

[00:17:05]I as I mentioned earlier, Pakistan is playing a great role hoping to restore stability and security in the region. We totally support all the efforts, discussions, deliberations uh made and all the efforts made by our part is are meant to support the mediation efforts of Pakistan. Not only Qatar but also the other Gulf states are directly impacted by the war on Iran.

[00:17:42]The level of cooperation and coordination between Qatar and Turkey is exceptional.

[00:17:48]Uh our relations are managed in a professional and intense fashion on all the important questions. We have constant level of discussions uh and as to the state institutions. We have an established level of cooperation not between our respective p persons but our respective state institutions from intelligence, defense, energy. All our state institutions are on constant communication, consultation and coordination and above all we have intense levels of cooperations under certain mechanism. Before even the war had erupted myself, his royal highness the Qatar the Turkish president as well as my Qatari counterpart started to exert efforts hoping to prevent the war.

[00:18:49]However, it erupted and now we we hope and we exert all what we can in order to prevent the reeruption of this war. All these regional issues can be resolved amicably. both our respective countries make great efforts and we coordinate in order to support the negotiations not only the negotiations of Pakistan but all other issues of concern to the Arab and Muslim world.

[00:19:27]This level of coordination is exceptional and as you know Israel is seen as the elephant in the room.

[00:19:40]Everyone is meeting to speak of peace and amicable solutions and at the same time Israel to continues with their expansion policies, violence and violations of all the laws. This exagerbate the situation. The policies of Israel are not on the regional levels.

[00:20:00]It has become a global security issues.

[00:20:04]There are certain sanctions being handed down by countries from the European Union. And I believe over the coming uh days the whole world would stand up to the Israeli expansion policies and we hope to see a wider uh response and measures. Thank you.