Qatar: the war’s economic toll has become ‘unbearable’ — damage stretches beyond energy as Doha keeps mediating

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that the economic cost of the war between the U.S. and Iran has become “unbearable” and is no longer limited to energy, as Euronews reports.

The warning from Doha

“How long can the international economy withstand the consequences of what is happening in our region?” Al-Ansari asked at the press conference in Doha. He said Doha continues to relay messages between Washington and Tehran, but did not say how far the talks have progressed and no tangible diplomatic result was announced.

Damage beyond oil

According to Al-Ansari, the disruptions already include Gulf exports of urea, ammonia, helium, petrochemicals and aluminium, with effects on crop yields in importing countries and a return to coal burning in countries that had reduced it. He warned the pressure could worsen as winter approaches.

“How long can the international economy withstand the consequences of what is happening in our region?” said Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Al-Ansari also rejected any suggestion that the Gulf states bear part of the blame for the conflict, calling Iranian attacks on Qatar and its neighbors “an aggression, an unjustified aggression,” and noting that the Gulf states, Iraq and Jordan chose not to join the war.