US seeks to cut Iran overflight income by settling Qatar-Saudi row: NYT

The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly seeking to persuade Saudi Arabia to open its airspace to Qatari flights and cut Iran’s overflight revenues, as it scrambles to deal yet another blow to the Iranian economy before leaving office.

The New York Times said in a report published on Wednesday that Trump administration officials had held talks in Doha and Riyadh to help re-open Saudi Arabia’s sky for Qatar Airways, less than three years after the kingdom barred Qatari flights from its airspace in light of a diplomatic feud between the two neighbors.

The paper said the White House’s senior advisor Jared Kushner, heading a high-ranking delegation, had met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

“Meeting on Wednesday with Qatari leaders, Jared Kushner, a senior presidential adviser, and other White House officials raised the prospect of rerouting commercial flights from the Persian Gulf country through Saudi Arabia’s airspace instead of over Iran, according to a diplomat with knowledge of the discussions,” read the report.

“Two US officials also described a goal of Mr. Kushner’s diplomatic foray this week — which included a stop in Saudi Arabia — as seeking an agreement on the overflights issue,” it added.

The report claimed that the re-routing of the Qatari flights would cut some $100 million in annual revenue for Iran, which currently serves as the only corridor for Qatari aircraft out of the region.

Washington’s earlier attempts to persuade Qatar over the issues have failed as Riyadh and Doha remain locked in what is generally described as the Persian Gulf’s worst diplomatic dispute.

Qatar Airways will continue flights to Iran, unfazed by US sanctions

Qatar Airways Group says it will continue flights to Iran despite the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also traveled to Qatar last month to make what one official called his own pitch for the overflights issue to the Qatari government.

In June, Trump tried in person to pressure the Saudi leadership to end the restrictions, but to no avail, the Wall Street Journal reported citing US and regional sources.

The report said Washington is also worried about the fact that many US military men regularly take flights from Qatar when traveling to and from the al-Udeid Air Base, the largest American base in the volatile Middle East region.

Qatar Airways has rerouted many of its flights through the Iranian airspace since it was banned from flying over several Arab countries in the Persian Gulf in June 2017 when the political standoff erupted between Qatar and a grouping of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia.

Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from a 2015 multilateral deal on the Iranian nuclear program in May 2018, and, consequently, re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the accord had lifted.

Under Trump’s so-called maximum pressure campaign, the Iranian nation has been subjected to the “toughest ever” restrictive measures designed to make the nation surrender to its demands.

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