00:00This hour, Qatar has ordered Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 24 hours following an attack on the world's
00:07largest natural gas field.
00:08It was hit by Israeli strikes that are understood to have been coordinated with the U.S.
00:14With ownership of the offshore facility split between Iran and Qatar, the attack was earlier condemned by Doha as dangerous
00:21and irresponsible.
00:23Well, for the very latest from Doha, let's cross live now to journalist Oda Abdel-Ameed.
00:29Oda, just take us through what exactly is happening here.
00:32These Iranian diplomats are being expelled. Tell us why.
00:38Indeed, a statement issued by the foreign ministry here in Qatar said that Qatar was expelling both the military and
00:48security attaches of the Iranian embassy along with their respective staff.
00:54Now, the statement goes on saying that that was in retaliation of the continued aggression, blatant aggression, as the statement
01:02says, against the state of Qatar.
01:05It did not link it directly to the attack earlier on the Ras La Fan liquefied gas facility, but the
01:15move comes a few hours later.
01:19You know, this is the continuation of this tit-for-tat that has been going on and is increasing in
01:27this region.
01:29Certainly, the targeting of the Ras La Fan gas facility was a huge blow for Qatar.
01:36Qatar Energy actually said that it had extensive damage, and the Ministry of Defense said that it was targeted by
01:44four ballistic missiles, three were intercepted, and one actually slammed into the facilities.
01:52And that's that big fire you see on that video we just aired.
01:57So, no direct linking, but certainly for those who are here following the events, it seems that that might have
02:04been the one step too far for Qatar.
02:08And Oda, Iran also issuing evacuation warnings earlier for several oil facilities, not just where you are, but across Saudi
02:16Arabia, the United Arab Emirates.
02:18How concerned are people there about what exactly is happening here in the Gulf region and how far Iran is
02:24willing to go?
02:27Well, I think the question is how far both sides are willing to go, because what we have seen from
02:34Iran is a pattern of retaliation along exactly the same lines of the attacks it has come under.
02:43So, earlier in the day, there was an attack, as you mentioned, on the South Par's gas and oil facility
02:54on the Iranian side, which is part of that same field that it shares with Qatar.
03:00Immediately after, Iran said that it will retaliate against a number of gas and oil facilities in the GCC countries,
03:10in Saudi Arabia, in the UAE, and here in Qatar.
03:15Iran at the time said that considering what was happening on its land, on its territory, it now believes that
03:21these energy facilities are fair game, are legitimate targets.
03:28So, what you get here from the vantage point of being in the Gulf area is that this is a
03:36war that's expanding, this is a war that's getting more and more dangerous, and there doesn't seem to be any
03:42off-ramp for anyone at this stage.
03:44And Iran has said it very clearly. It has no interest in stopping this war, because it just doesn't want
03:50to find itself held in a pattern that every year, every six months, every two years, there's a renewed hostilities.
03:59So, Iran is willing to go all the way.
04:01The question now is how much restraint or how longer are the Gulf countries going to show restraint?
04:08As we speak now, the foreign ministers of the Gulf countries, along with several foreign ministers of other Muslim countries,
04:17are meeting in Riyadh.
04:19This, on the backdrop of all the events that happened here, and on the backdrop that, you know, Ras Lafant,
04:25the biggest liquefied gas complex in the world, is at the moment in flames, or at least part of it
04:33is in flames.
04:34So, certainly, these are questions that these foreign ministers are going to raise among themselves, also recalibrating, really, their relations
04:44with both Iran for countries like Qatar and Oman, who have acted as mediators, who have always pushed forward for
04:51diplomacy,
04:52and also recalibrating, probably, their relations with the U.S., considering that they have all these bases around the region,
05:00that they're being targeted because of these U.S. assets, and they're not really getting protected.
05:06Oda, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much for joining us with all of that, with the very
05:10latest there from Doha.
05:11That is Oda Abdel-Ameed.
05:13That is Oda Abdel-Ameed.
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