Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida doubled down on his criticism of Qatar’s role in mediating between the United States and Iran, declaring on Sunday that the Gulf state “is not our friend.” Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Scott told host Shannon Bream that Doha’s close financial relationship with Tehran undermines its credibility as a neutral broker.
Scott’s remarks come amid a delicate phase in U.S.-Iran negotiations, which resumed earlier this month in Bürgenstock, Switzerland. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was among the regional leaders at the table, alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has been shuttling between the two capitals for months.
“They’re not our friend,” Scott said of Qatar, echoing a theme he has pressed for weeks. He noted that even as Qatar sits at the negotiating table, Iran’s military has fired missiles at Qatari sites since the U.S.-led campaign against Iran began in February. That contradiction, Scott argued, reveals Doha’s true alignment.
Scott’s skepticism predates the latest talks. In a social media post on Friday, he laid out a broader indictment of Qatari policy, pointing to Doha’s funding of Hamas and other Iranian proxies, as well as its role as “the single largest foreign donor to American universities.” He claimed that money is used to shape research agendas and campus discourse in ways that undermine U.S. interests.
“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 wrote. He also alleged that Qatari contributions to secondary education institutions come with “little to NO transparency.”
Pakistan’s Sharif, who has acted as a key intermediary, spoke with Sheikh Mohammed on Wednesday and expressed gratitude for Qatar’s “steadfast support” of peace efforts. Sharif described the first round of technical talks as making “positive progress” and stressed the need to maintain diplomatic momentum.
Scott’s critique, however, highlights a growing unease among some Republicans over the Trump administration’s reliance on Qatar as a go-between. The senator’s comments also resonate with concerns about Doha’s influence in Washington, including its role in facilitating the use of a Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet, a topic that has drawn scrutiny in conservative circles.
Scott has a history of tangling with the administration over foreign policy, most recently when he pushed a GOP shutdown plan ahead of a meeting with President Trump. His latest broadside against Qatar suggests that the Gulf state’s role in the Iran talks will remain a flashpoint as negotiations continue.
