By the middle of March during Trump's Operation Epic Fury, Iran was flexing its retaliatory might, and the Gulf region was shocked to see the largest natural-gas production facility in the world, Qatar's North Field, badly damaged - with a key section forced offline and severely damaged.
The Washington Post has just provided some new information which has come to light, writing that "There was an additional, hidden consequence. The strike also dashed secret efforts by Qatar to keep its gas complex, known as Ras Laffan, off Iran’s target list, according to Middle Eastern security officials and Western officials briefed on the intelligence."
This after the punishing Iranian strikes (against a nearby Arab state which hosts US forces) "destroyed sections of a plant that provides nearly a fifth of the globe’s gas supply, imperiled multibillion-dollar contracts with China and other clients, and damaged the prospects of finding an earlier end to the war by dragging Qatar, a key mediator between the United States and Iran, into the fight" - WaPo also reviewed.
That 'secret negotiations' were being held apart from the US - or also separately from other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is indeed significant, highlighting a theme that Tehran continues to seek to assert leverage by forcing nations to come make side deals - even as the Islamic Republic comes under US bombs and Western pressure.
If it is indeed accurate that Gulf nations are approaching Iran to do individual separate deals, this is for now a diplomatic 'win' for Tehran. Separate deal-making, peeling others away from a united front and bloc, gives Iran some greater leverage and also flexibility in terms of potential post-war economic and political detente with regional states.
The UAE, it was reported earlier this week in Bloomberg, has also reportedly reached its own 'understanding' with the Iranians after some backroom dealing and diplomacy.
"Senior national security officials from the United Arab Emirates and Iran held a face-to-face meeting for the first time since the start of the US-Israeli war against Tehran, according to people with knowledge of the situation," Bloomberg reported
"This week’s meeting marked a stark turnaround for both sides and comes amid their growing acknowledgment of the importance of calmer bilateral ties, the people said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters," the report indicated.
Perhaps in both Qatar's and UAE's thinking, there's too much to risk while facing Iran's significant ballistic missile and drone arsenal, at a moment Washington has failed to clearly define an end game, but instead is climbing up the escalation ladder with a cornered and thus fierce Iran, which sees itself fighting for its very survival.
Qatar's effort apparently failed to a large degree, while curiously there's of late been a lack of Iranian targeting on UAE - even as other US-allied countries, namely Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan have this week seen new missile waves launched on them.
But possibly Qatar has protected itself from further harm. It too has not been a prime renewed target of Iran's ballistic missiles this week, alongside the Emirates.