Qatar seems to be playing a dual game; or let us say, that it continues to maintain a two-pronged approach. Recent news bit have shown a clear indication of this, where Qatar is systematically increasing its investment and strengthening its bilateral relations with Iran and its provinces, while it continues to act as a happy partner with Washington.

Its purchase and influence of media space in Washington has been reported upon extensively. It continues to lobby for itself as peace maker, while continuing to fund extremists around the world, much to the dismay of the White House.

According to Saeed Zarrinfar, the deputy for economic affairs and resources development of Bushehr Governor General’s Office, official figures indicate that Bushehr’s exports to Qatar during the past year observed a 62% and 47% growth in terms of value and volume, respectively, in comparison with the year before.

Zarrinfar has also stated that “trade cooperation between Bushehr and Qatar would continue to increase thus increasing bilateral trade between Iran and Qatar to the tune of 5 billion dollars through plans.”

Nineteen months after Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries imposed a boycott of Qatar over its relations with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, Doha’s imports from Tehran have jumped substantially.

The imposed boycott, has made Qatar diversify and explore its options of bilateral trade in many new places like Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan not to miss Iran. Importing more Iranian goods fits a wider Qatari strategy, a European security analyst said: “The start [of the boycott] was tough but the crisis has pushed [the Qataris] to diversify their economy. They’re proving quite efficient in pulling themselves around.”

Confirmed media reports suggest that some 678,000 tons of non-oil commodities worth $117 million were shipped from Iran’s Bushehr province to Qatar during the past fiscal year (ended on March 20).

Minerals, construction materials and agricultural products were the main exports from Bushehr to the Persian Gulf country. Minerals accounted for 62% of the total volume of the southern province’s exports to Qatar, while the agricultural and industrial products constituted 23% and 14% of the exports.

Two southern ports of Bushehr and Lengeh account for the largest portion of goods sent from Iran to Qatar. Political analysts suggest that Qatar is the closest country to Bushehr, and so the short distance between the ports of the province and the ports of Qatar increases the possibilities of trade and economic exchange. No wonder, that the two countries have increased their exports to Qatar in the past two years, the bulk of the ports of Bushehr.”

It being further suggested that a need to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between Iran and Qatar will lead to trade exchange between both, reaching to a whopping $ 5 billion through plans.