The Jerusalem Post posted on Sunday that Iran's president plans to visit Qatar in the coming days, according to the Iranian Fars News media agency, adding that this is designed to strengthen relations, and that the desire of the countries to expand cooperation on a variety of levels could be one of the issues that may be on the agenda.
Over the years, the countries have discussed how to use the swapping surplus electricity from Qatar with countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan, as well as connecting the electric grids of Iran and Qatar undersea, mentioned that it was previously reported in 2020 and 2021.
According to Iranian media, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Qatar on Monday with a high-ranking delegation, Turkish media said.
“The visit is on Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's official invitation,” state news agency IRNA stated.
Furthermore, several agreements and memorandums of understanding between Tehran and Doha will be signed during the Iranian leader’s visit, and the meetings will include discussions with Iranians living in Qatar as well as business-people.
The Turkish report also mentioned that Raisi will also attend a three-day summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which will begin on Sunday in Qatar.
The Iranian report went into further detail, as it said that everyone's mind is drawn to joint capacities in the field of natural gas when it comes to energy diplomacy relations between Iran and Qatar, saying that “although one of the major joint energy projects between both countries has been defined in the sector of electricity.”
This means they may talk about “connecting the electricity networks of Iran and Qatar,” which is definitely “on the agenda of the government of the two countries.”
Fars also said that “the connection of Iran-Qatar power grid in order to improve the reliability of the power grid of both countries is an issue that has been on the agenda since last year,” adding that “there are many other issues the countries may discuss as well, and there will be representatives of various sectors, such as sport, energy and culture.”
“In this regard, one of the most important instructions discussed in this meeting was dedicated to the issue of connecting the electricity network of the two countries using the sea transmission line,” Fars indicated.
Moreover, Iran declared that “its electric grid is an important hub of electricity in the region and this can make Iran a major player in electricity supply,” in addition to the deep importance of foreign policy and energy security “Iran has become a hub for electricity generation and distribution in the region.”
However, Iran needs to invest in infrastructure to be an electricity hub.
“Countries in the region have taken many steps to replace Iran,” Fars stated, adding that “for example, the German company Siemens, in the form of a contract, aims to make Afghanistan a hub for electricity distribution in the Central Asian region.”
With the Taliban in control, it's unclear how this would work for Afghanistan. Qatar, on the other hand, has hosted and backed the Taliban, thus this could be on Qatar's regional agenda.
Furthermore, Qatar partnered with Iran and the Taliban to swoop into Afghanistan after the US left and profit off the shift in power there while signing deals with Iran to solidify this new concept. Germany, perhaps on the sidelines, could work with all three countries because Germany has long wanted more partnerships with Iran.
“The first step is to take the country to become the electricity hub of the region,” Fars News stressed about Iran, pointing out that “in such circumstances, the news of the connection of the electricity network between Iran and Qatar using the offshore transmission line is considered the first step to return to the path of Iran becoming the energy hub of the region and use all the above benefits.”
The article then named Mohammad Ali Farahnakian as a key person involved in this as an adviser to the Iranian energy minister, since he was previously a deputy energy minister, where he said that “a joint Iran-Qatar commission should be established in Qatar.”
It is believed that Raisi’s new government wanted to invest in infrastructure, technology and issues such as electricity and space, which means more connections with energy issues in Central Asia and a general shift to the east in terms of Iran’s policy.
Iran is slow-playing the nuclear discussions in Vienna as it conducts the real foreign policy it cares about with Qatar and others.