Pezeshkian meets Qatar emir at Moscow gas summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Pezeshkian at the summit, which opened in Moscow on Tuesday, Donya-e-Eqtesad reported. Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said Pezeshkian’s participation would advance Iran’s role in the forum and expand cooperation with Moscow, particularly in energy and transport, IRNA reported. On the sidelines, Pezeshkian and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani reviewed relations between Tehran and Doha and stressed expanding political and economic ties and energy cooperation, according to Iranian state television. Pezeshkian said in his speech that the destruction of Iran’s energy facilities and disruption to energy transfers had endangered energy security and the global economy, Khabar Online reported. Al Jazeera reported that the meeting took place amid a nearly eight-month-old war involving the US and Israel, during which Iran has carried out missile and drone strikes across the region, including in Qatar, and that Doha has been mediating. A Qatari foreign ministry spokesman called for Iran to stop threatening Arab states of the Persian Gulf so diplomacy could defuse regional tensions, Al Jazeera reported.