Tuesday's meeting between Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Qatar's ruling Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was the Iranian diplomat's first trip to Doha since the start of a four-month-old blockade against Qatar.

The boycott, led by the Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and including fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was launched in part because of Qatar's relationship with the Shiite regional power Iran. It has left regional and international leaders struggling to find a diplomatic resolution, and Qatar scrambling to secure food, water and transport access.

Read more: What is the Qatar crisis?

According to Qatari state media, Zarif and Al Thani's discussions on Tuesday centered on the blockade and what could be done to ease the region's tensions.

Read more: Why Iran approaches Qatar crisis with caution

The Iranian and Qatari political leaders "reviewed relations of cooperation between the two countries in various fields as well as exchanging views on the current situation in the region," a statement from the Qatar News Agency read.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and Qatari ruling Emir Sheikh Al Thani last met in Doha in March 2017 (above)

Zarif also used the meeting to underline diplomacy as the only way forward. "None of the regional crises have a military solution," the foreign minister said, according the Iranian news agency Tasnim as cited by AP.

Tasnim also reported that Zarif and Al Thani focused on the need to increase long-term economic cooperation. Iran and Qatar share the world's largest offshore gas fields, located in the Persian Gulf and spreading over the two nations' territorial waters.

Zarif's meeting in Doha came one day after he met with Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Muscaat. Oman has remained neutral in the ongoing blockade against Qatar.

More criticism of Tehran-Doha relations to follow?

Though cooperation and resolution was the focus of Zarif's visit to Qatar, the meeting could likely exacerbate the blockading nations' criticism of Qatar and Iran's close ties to one another. Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia has accused Qatar of siding with its Shiite rival Iran, as well as supporting Islamist terrorism and hosting the Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera in Doha. Saudi Arabia and its allies allege that Al Jazeera's Arabic language programming in particular is seditious and provocative, saying its content differs markedly from the English-language channel.

Qatar owes its wealth to vast natural gas reserves

In a speech in Paris last week, Zarif argued that the blockade was only driving Doha into closer partnership with Tehran.

"They accuse Qatar of being close to Iran but with their measure... they push Qatar towards Iran. They are giving Qatar like a gift to Iran," Zarif said in the French capital.

In a show of solidarity with Saudi Arabia, Qatar suspended its diplomatic ties to Iran in early 2016 after a diplomatic spat escalated between the Shiite and Sunni regional rivals. Qatar announced it had restored its full diplomatic mission in Tehran in August 2017, after the blockade began.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Severed ties, broken trust Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of backing extremism and fostering ties with their Shiite rival, Iran. Doha denies the claim. SA and its allies also imposed sanctions against Doha and presented Qatar with a list of demands. Kuwait has been trying to mediate, and several Western diplomats have toured the region to defuse the row.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Instability haunts Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Back on March 5, 2014, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain suspended ties with Qatar over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has been labelled a terrorist organization. Qatar was accused of breaching the 2013 GCC security agreement. Later in November that year, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain agreed to return their ambassadors to Doha after eight months of tension and frozen relations.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Arab Spring and the GCC The Arab Spring in 2011 did not lead to uprisings in GCC member states, apart from Bahrain, which crushed Shiite protests with Saudi military support. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have long been concerned Iran could cause unrest among their Shiite populations.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Pipeline disputes Relations between Saudi Arab and Qatar hit a low spot in 2006 after Riyadh withdrew its approval for Qatar’s plans to build a gas pipeline to Kuwait. In the same year, Saudi Arabia also protested against a planned pipeline for taking Qatari gas to the UAE and Oman. In 2005 there had also been Saudi protests against a plan to build a bridge linking Qatar to the UAE.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Border clash In 1992, three people were killed in a border clash between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Qatar claimed that Saudi Arabia had attacked the border post at Khafus. Saudi Arabia responded that the clash had taken place on Saudi territory.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Border dispute In 1965 an agreement was reached on where the border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia would lie. But the issue was not completely settled until decades later. After three years of wrangling, the two countries signed a border demarcation agreement in 1996. It took more than a decade after this for it to be fully implemented.

Qatar - Gulf Cooperation Council disputes over the years Territorial disputes In 1991, Doha took a border dispute with Bahrain over the Hawar Islands to the United Nations International Court of Justice. Armed confrontation between the two countries had been narrowly avoided in 1986 due to timely Saudi intervention. Later, the ICJ ruled in favor of Bahrain. Qatar was awarded the Janan Islands. Author: Aasim Saleem



cmb/msh (AFP, AP)