Trump appeals for Qatar’s help in persuading Iran to give up its nuclear program

President Donald Trump speaks during the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC Summit in Riyadh Saudi Arabia Wednesday May AP Photo Alex Brandon AP Alex Brandon President Donald Trump speaks during the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC Summit in Riyadh Saudi Arabia Wednesday May AP Photo Alex Brandon AP Alex Brandon DOHA Qatar AP President Donald Trump urged Qatar on Wednesday to use its influence over Iran to persuade the country s leadership to reach an agreement with the U S to dial back its rapidly advancing nuclear scheme Trump who is visiting the Gulf nation as part of a three-country Mideast swing made the appeal during a state dinner held in his honor by Qatar s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Qatar over the years has played the role of intermediary between the U S and Iran and its proxies including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as its -month war with Israel grinds on I hope you can help me with the Iran situation Trump announced during remarks at the formal dinner It s a perilous situation and we want to do the right thing Trump wants Iran to stop backing militant proxy groups The appeal to Qatar came after Trump communicated leaders at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting earlier Wednesday in Riyadh Saudi Arabia that he wants to make a deal but Tehran must end its promotion of proxy groups throughout the Mideast as part of any prospective agreement The U S and Iran brokered a nuclear deal in during Democrat Barack Obama s administration in which Iran agreed to drastically reduce its stockpile of uranium and only enrich up to But that deal was scrapped during the first Trump administration At present Iran enriches up to a short technical step from weapons-grade levels and has enough stockpiled for multiple nuclear bombs should it choose to build them The Qatari emir advised Fox News Channel on Wednesday night that we agree that we want a nuclear-free region and we cannot afford a nuclear race in that region But Al Thani noted Iran has its right to have a nuclear a civilian nuclear power while not also representing any challenge or any threat for anyone in the region He announced the issue requirements to be resolved diplomatically The U S and Iran have engaged in four rounds of talks since early last month about the country s nuclear activity Trump has revealed that he believes brokering a nuclear deal is manageable but that the window is closing At the state dinner he called on Iran s leadership to get moving or hazard the situation spiraling into a head-on conflict Because things like that get started and they get out of control Trump announced I ve seen it over and over again They go to war and things get out of control and we re not going to let that happen Trump in his appearance at the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Riyadh also revealed that Tehran must stop sponsoring terror halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease pursuit of nuclear weapons as conditions for any deal The call for Iran to cease help of Hamas in Gaza Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen comes as that proxy grid has faced crucial setbacks in the months since Hamas launched its Oct attack on Israel In Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Trump s remarks deceitful but did not directly address his demands Trump disclosed that he also supposed the moment was ripe for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah terrorists Hezbollah is severely weakened after its war last year with Israel in which much of its top leadership was killed and after losing a key ally with the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad a conduit for Iran to send arms Lifting sanctions on Syria While in Riyadh Trump also met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa a face-to-face engagement with the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by U S forces after being captured in Iraq Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham stormed Damascus and ended the -year rule of the Assad family Trump revealed he decided to meet with al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan He also pledged to lift yearslong sanctions on Syria The White House billed the al-Sharaa meeting as a brief pull aside that ended up lasting minutes Trump communicated reporters that the meeting went great and described him as a young attractive guy with a very strong past He s got a real shot at holding it together Trump revealed Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U S forces in Iraq after the U S -led invasion He still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq The U S once offered million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaida Al-Sharaa returned to his home country of Syria after the conflict began in and led al-Qaida s branch called the Nusra Front He changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and cut links with al-Qaida The sanctions go back to the rule of Bashar Assad who was ousted in December and were intended to inflict major pain on his economic activity Qatar rolls out the red carpet for Trump In Qatar Trump was greeted at the airport by Al Thani Air Force One was escorted by Qatari F- jets as it neared Doha the capital city As he sat down for talks at Amiri Diwan the administrative office of the emir Trump communicated the Qatari leader he was impressed with the perfecto marble as well as the camels that took part in the arrival ceremony The emir commented he had high hopes for Trump s efforts with Iran and at ending the war in Gaza I know that you are a man of peace he revealed I know that you want to bring peace to this region Qatar like the other Gulf Arab states is an autocratic nation where political parties are banned and speech is tightly controlled But Qatar has also served as a valuable partner to the U S The country is also home to Al-Udeid Air Base a sprawling facility that hosts the forward headquarters of the U S military s Central Command The oil-and-gas-rich country is also in the center of a disagreement over its offer to provide Trump with the gift of a luxury Boeing - that the U S could use as Air Force One while new versions of the plane are under construction by Boeing The Qatari administration has disclosed a final decision hasn t been made Trump has defended the idea even as critics argue it would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign ruling body Trump has indicated he would refurbish the aircraft and it would later be donated to his post-White House presidential library He says he would not use the plane once he leaves office Trump will head to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for the final stop of his Mideast tour Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara Turkey Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv Israel and Nasser Karimi in Tehran Iran contributed to this description Source