Qatar Airways to resume flights to Abu Dhabi
Qatar will resume flights to Abu Dhabi today for the first time since the lifting of a three-year blockade imposed by Qatar’s Gulf neighbours.
After a reconciliation deal signed earlier this month, Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have halted litigation against Doha regarding its ties to Tehran. The coalition initially implemented the blockade in response to what it saw as an increasingly close relationship between Qatar and its main regional rival in Iran. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the GCC have agreed to resume diplomatic ties with Qatar, while multiple airlines from the aforementioned states have resumed flights.
Expect increasing regional cohesion among the Gulf nations as the Biden administration comes to power in Washington. Saudi Arabia is likely to organise its partners in the region towards US foreign policy goals in order to soften the blow from President Joe Biden’s outspoken criticism of Riyadh’s human rights abuses in Yemen. Iran may feel isolated as Turkey shifts away from a Qatar-Turkey-Iran partnership in favor of EU rapprochement. The absence of countries willing to engage with Iran despite US sanctions could make Tehran more inclined to come to the table when Biden begins his quest to reconcile the abandoned Iran nuclear deal.
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