GOP’s Rick Scott: Qatar is not our friend

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Republican Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.) on Sunday reiterated his unease with the Qatari government’s role in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

“They’re not our friend,” Scott told host Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to Qatar.

The Florida Republican went on to criticize the Qatari government for its relationship with Iran. The two countries have close ties financially, but the Iranian military has fired missiles at multiple Qatari sites since the U.S. and Israel launched the war with Iran in February.

Earlier this month, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was among a host of regional leaders in attendance for peace talks between the U.S. and Iran in Bürgenstock, Switzerland.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has mediated discussions between the two governments for months, said Wednesday he spoke to his Qatari counterpart and “thanked” him for his “steadfast support” of peace efforts.

“We expressed satisfaction at the positive progress made during the first round of technical talks in Bürgenstock and agreed on the importance of sustaining this momentum through continued dialogue and diplomacy,” Sharif wrote on social media, referring to his call with Sheikh Mohammed.

Two days before his interview with Bream, Scott elaborated on his “skepticism” regarding Qatar’s involvement in peace talks between Washington and Tehran.

In a lengthy post on social media, the Florida Republican pointed to the Qatari government’s close ties to Iran and its proxies, including Hamas. He also noted Qatar “is the single largest foreign donor to American universities,” which is intended to boost its own standing on college campuses and harm the U.S. and its allies.

“Qatari money creates dependency so that Qatar can control research agendas and policy to promote non-democratic government and criticize Jews and Christians in the Middle East,” Scott added. “Qatari money has also gone to secondary education institutions with little to NO transparency.”

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