In his interview with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Aal Thani, published March 8, 2025, Tucker Carlson allows a total whitewash of the worst enemy of America in this century, Qatar. He claims that the attacks on Qatar are motivated by an attempt to drag America into war with Iran. This is a false claim. MEMRI, the foremost critic of Qatar over the years that continues to accuse it of being an enemy of America, and the foremost sponsor of Islamist terrorism (including 9/11), opposes an American attack on Iran.
In a number of reports, MEMRI has discussed how the anti-U.S. Iranian regime can and should be challenged: by supporting oppressed Iranian ethnic minorities, as well as the Iranian opposition. This would be more than enough to destabilize the extremist regime of the ayatollahs without involving the U.S. military or troops (see MEMRI Daily Brief No. 681, The U.S. Will Not Need To Be Involved In War If It Supports Secular Ethnic Groups Against The Iranian Ayatollah's Regime, by Anna Mahjar-Barducci, November 27, 2024).
Qatar's prime minister tries to justify the existence of terrorist headquarters in its capital, Doha, by claiming that America asked him to do so. Carlson does not ask for any details. But this is a typical Qatari lie. What the Qatari prime minister himself has said on numerous occasions was that America asked Qatar to "keep lines of communications" with the terrorist organizations. Even if this claim is true, Qatar did something totally different – it brought in the headquarters of the terrorists and allowed them to operate from Qatar.
Carlson's most important question to the prime minister of Qatar, whose country was declared a major non-NATO ally by the previous U.S. administration, was: Is Qatar an enemy of the United States? The Qatari prime minister's answer was that Qatar is hosting the CENTCOM base.
But by hosting the CENTCOM base at Al-Udeid, Qatar is not doing the U.S. a favor – on the contrary. The U.S. base guarantees the survival of Qatar's ruling Aal Thani family. If the base were to be relocated, Qatar would be wiped out by its neighbors – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain. They had attempted to do so in 2017, but Qatar was saved by President Trump and his senior advisor Jared Kushner, as written by H. R. McMaster in his book At War With Ourselves. Trump and Kushner demanded that Qatar stop supporting terrorism. But Trump lost his 2020 reelection bid and Qatar continued its support for terrorism. Qatar is an enemy of the United States.
Qatar bears responsibility for 9/11 since its mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), is a former Qatari government employee. He has been awaiting trial in Guantanamo for the past decade, and there will hopefully be no further attempts at a plea bargain so that Qatar's role will be fully revealed to the public. It should be noted that when the FBI came to arrest KSM in Qatar in 1996, notifying only the Emir, within hours KSM disappeared. This was revealed by Richard A. Clarke, counterterrorism advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush, in his 2004 book Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror and also in his 2017 article in the New York Daily News. KSM had been involved in a host of anti-U.S. plots and acts of terrorism, as per his own admission, and as is documented by the U.S. government (see MEMRI Daily Brief No. 651, Qatar Is Responsible For Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's 2,977 Murders On 9/11 – At The World Trade Center And The Pentagon, And On Two Other Hijacked Flights – That Are Only Some Of 31 Attacks And Plots That He Outlined In His Own Confession, by Yigal Carmon, September 13, 2024).
For years, Qatar sustained the Taliban, another designated terrorist organization – all the way up to its August 2021 violent takeover of the country from its democratically elected secular president Ashraf Ghani. Thirteen U.S. troops died in that violence. Qatar played the same game with Hamas – sponsoring it and supporting it with billions of dollars to Hamas-ruled Gaza, and after the October 7 attacks, presented itself as a mediator. and Qatar is an arsonist pretending to be a firefighter.
Carlson asked the prime minister about Qatar's relationship with Iran. Qatar shares with Iran the huge South Pars gas field, and Qatar openly declares its alliance with Iran. Just recently, it demanded that Israel's nuclear facilities be brought under the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a demand that is regularly reiterated by Iran, and that Iran's nuclear facilities not be bombed. Qatar coordinates with Iran on a range of levels (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11599, Amid Israel-Iran Conflict, Qatar Stands With Iran, October 7, 2024).
According to reports, Qatar funds Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and rebuilt southern Lebanon for Hizbullah after the 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war. Also according to media reports, Qatar finances Hizbullah (for more about Qatari funding for the IRGC and Hizbullah, see MEMRI Daily Brief No. 654, One Move That Will Bolster America's Standing In The World: Relocate The CENTCOM Base Out Of Qatar – Part I, by Yigal Carmon, September 23, 2024).
Iran has announced its determination to assassinate President Trump; it has long referred to the U.S. as "the Great Satan" and its leaders chant "Death to America" (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11864, Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan' To Iranian President: 'Mr. Pezeshkian, Iran Has Planned, And Is Planning, To Assassinate Trump', March 4, 2025). This is never criticized by Qatar, the ostensible non-NATO ally of America.
These are just some of the facts that Carlson might not know.
Carlson asks the prime minister how close Iran is to obtaining a nuclear weapon, and whether the sanctions on Iran have worked. Acording to the IAEA in late February, Iran has accelerated its production of near weapons-grade uranium. The sanctions do work if they are properly implemented, which the Biden administration did not do.
The prime minister raised the false argument about Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's alleged fatwa banning nuclear weapons. This fatwa is nonexistent – MEMRI has published many reports about it. No one has ever seen it (Carlson could have asked to see it– it would have been a scoop, and it is never too late to ask). (See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11833, Iranian Regime Continues To Lie About The Alleged Fatwa Banning Nuclear Weapons, February 11, 2025).
Carlson asked the prime minister: Why does corporate media hate Qatar? But the corporate media does not hate Qatar, as he misrepresents. There is nothing to support this claim. They criticize it for its disrespect of Western values. Should they not? Qatar poses as part of the West, and is entrenched across all American higher education. Should it not be judged by the extent to which it adheres to Western values? Just months ago, Qatar cancelled its parliamentary elections, saying that the people are not ready for them. Does Carlson buy this? (see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11649, On U.S. Election Day, Qatari Emir Cancels Parliamentary Elections, November 4, 2024).
Carlson could have challenged the Qatari prime minister on the following issues:
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Qatar hired a former CIA officer to spy on U.S. lawmakers – Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, and former Congressman Ed Royce, all of whom are opposed to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Al-Jazeera was ordered by the first Trump administration to register as a foreign agent but did not comply with the order.
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Qatar was granted a visa waiver by the previous administration in its final month. See MEMRI: The U.S. Designation Of Qatar Into The Visa Waiver Program By The Biden Administration In Its Last Months Does Not Meet 'Stringent Security Requirements' As Claimed By Department Of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas And Secretary Of State Blinken, by Yigal Carmon, February 25, 2025.
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Qatar and the previous administration's law enforcement cooperation agreement that compromises the liberties, personal data, and freedoms of U.S. citizens – does Carlson approve of it? See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 724, Qatar-U.S. Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement, Signed In Biden Administration's Final Months Ostensibly To Enhance The Fight Against Terrorism, Compromises Americans' Rights And Freedoms – While Qatar Still Hosts Terror Headquarters, by Yigal Carmon, February 24, 2025.
Why is exposing the whitewashing of Qatar so important? It is because 1) Qatar is the most important part in a new structure that is emerging in the new axis comprising Turkey, the new regime in Syria, and Qatar, that President Trump may see as an axis of allies while in reality they are enemies of the U.S. and of his administration. And the catastrophic consequences of this policy are looming. President Trump will surely believe he is strengthening America's standing, but he is weakening it significantly.
This article is not meant as criticism of the president nor of Carlson as an American patriot. It is meant to spare the Trump administration a most costly and unnecessary disaster. More about this in Part II, forthcoming.
* Yigal Carmon is Founder and President of MEMRI.
