Just weeks after Qatar’s reconciliation with its Arab neighbors after an over three-year long crisis, Doha called on its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states to hold talks with Iran. In an interview on Jan. 18, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he “hoped talks would happen,” adding that other GCC countries also support the idea.

Prior to the interview, the Qatari foreign minister’s special envoy for counterterrorism and mediation in the settlement of disputes, Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, also stated that...