TEHRAN - Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said that Doha will never forget Tehran's help when Qatar was besieged by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain from land, sea and air.

"When we were under blockade, Iran opened its airspace to us and we will never forget it," the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying on Saturday in an interview with Arabic RT.

He also said, "Iran is our neighbor and Qatar is committed to the principle of good neighborliness. Doha makes efforts to have good relations with Tehran."

In June of 2017, Saudi Arabia along with Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) abruptly cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar and closed land, sea and air routes to the country. The severing of relations also included withdrawing ambassadors and imposing trade and travel bans on Doha.

The Islamic Republic opened its airspace to about 100 more Qatari flights a day during the blockade.
 
During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, the Qatari foreign minister thanked Iran for its supports.

"Iran is our neighbor. We share a border with Iran. We share gas reserves with Iran. This is geography. We needed flight space and business route after blockade of Qatar and they [Iranians] opened their airspace to us and we thank them for that," ISNA quoted him as saying.

NA/PA