UANI: U.S. Should Revoke Qatar’s Designation As A Major Non-NATO Ally

Doha Allowed a Foreign Terrorist Organization to Participate at a Defense Show

(New York, N.Y.) — Qatar’s decision to allow Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, to participate in its premier defense show in Doha this week alongside American companies—like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon—and American defense officials was outrageous. In response, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price issued a statement that the United States is “deeply disappointed and troubled by the presence of Iran and reported IRGC officers.”  

“Disappointed” and “troubled?” This response is woefully insufficient. The Biden Administration, which rewarded Qatar less than three weeks ago by designating it as a major non-NATO ally, should convert its embarrassment at being blindsided by our so-called ally into anger and action. Iran is known to steal from and surveil foreign companies and personnel at shows like this for damaging information on businesses, research, and intellectual property. Yet according to press reports, the exhibit organizers in Doha decided to place Iran’s booth adjacent to U.S. firm General Atomics, where it displayed its MQ-9B predator drone.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace stated:

“Qatar’s decision to legitimize an Iranian organization responsible for countless acts of terrorism and the deaths of hundreds of American military and civilian personnel by allowing them into the country and permitting them to hawk their weaponry and military prowess deserves a much more forceful response than what the State Department offered yesterday. It was a major sanctions violation by Qatar, a newly designated major non-NATO ally. This is not how an “ally” behaves.

“A whole of government response is necessary to this affront. The State Department should summon Qatar’s ambassador, present him with a démarche, and declare that the presence of IRGC representatives violates commitments made to combat terrorism in the U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue and the 2018 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation. The Department of the Treasury should investigate and apply punitive sanctions against Qatari entities which may have engaged in business with the IRGC or U.S.-sanctioned persons, including the IRGC’s Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri, who was photographed at the exhibit in Doha and is sanctioned in the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The Department of Defense should express its alarm, recalling the blood of more than 600 servicemembers spilled at the hands of the IRGC from the marine barracks in Beirut, to Khobar Towers, to the war in Iraq. The White House should also revoke Qatar’s major non-NATO ally status until Doha demonstrates that its commitment to counterterrorism extends beyond mere words.

“For years, Qatar has provided global Islamist groups with safe-haven as well as diplomatic and financial support. It has allowed leaders and members of top terrorist groups such as Hamas, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda to live within its borders and paid enormous ransoms to Iran-backed militias and terrorist groups. Recent revelations suggest Doha may have even provided funding to the IRGC itself. These actions would disqualify any other country from being designated a major non-NATO ally.

“Qatar’s actions over a period of years have threatened the security of the United States. It is time for the leaders of Qatar to decide whose side they are on. We hope it is ours. But if it is not, Washington should stop treating them as an ally.”

To read UANI's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) resource, please click here.

To read UANI’s report, Qatar: An Impediment to Unity on Iran, please click here.