Raisi Travels To Qatar To Represent Iran At Gas Exporting Forum
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi) has traveled to Qatar to attend the sixth summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi) has traveled to Qatar to attend the sixth summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
Raeisi arrived in Doha on Monday to hold high-level talks with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and is also scheduled to address the GECF summit on Tuesday.
Several ministers and officials are accompanying Raisi and several agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) are to be signed during his two-day visit. Iran and Qatar share the world’s largest gas-field, with the Iranian part known as South Pars and Qatar’s as North Dome.
Iran’s roads and transport minister, Rostam Ghasemi, told the state broadcaster that four agreements will be signed between the two countries, the most important of which is about a plan to connect Iran and Qatar via an underwater tunnel.
According to Ghasemi, two of the other agreements are about shipping and boosting maritime trade, and the fourth relates to improving air travel.
The trip could also be an opportunity for Qatar to discuss Iran’s nuclear negotiations with world powers and the issue of direct talks with the United States. Iran has rejected any mediation on the issue.
Washington is also liaising with energy-producing states and firms over possible diversion of supplies to Europe should Russia invade Ukraine. Moscow supplies one-third of Europe’s natural gas and might stop winter deliveries if sanctioned by the US or western Europe over any action in Ukraine.
The crash happened in a residential area in the center of Tabriz, a city of 1.6 million residents. The third person killed was a passerby in the area.
The accident was followed by a huge fire in central Tabriz, which was put out following the intervention of the firefighters.
According to the commander of the Tabriz air base, General Reza Yousefi, the jet had been used for training while it suffered a technical problem on its final flight. He said that due to the technical problem “pilots could not reach the runway”.
Yousefi claimed that the pilots could have used the ejection system, but they refused to do it and “sacrificed themselves” to guide the jet to the stadium and not crash into a populated area “to keep people safe”.
The jet, however, initially hit the ground of a school according to local reports before crashing into the stadium but the school was closed, and no one was injured or killed there.
Iran’s air force has an assortment of US-made military aircraft purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which are not considered in optimal condition as decades of Western sanctions have made it hard to maintain the aging fleet.
