The Qatar Emir didn’t let Donald Trump depart the country until the pair had time for a sit down aboard Air Force One.
En route to Malaysia ahead of a diplomatic tour of Asia next week, Trump stopped off for refueling Friday at Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base, where he was briefly joined aboard Air Force One by the member of the royal family who lavished the president with a flashier plane in May.
“As soon as I found out that he’s coming to refuel, I said I’m not gonna allow him to take off unless I come and say hello to him,” Emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani told reporters while sitting beside the U.S. president aboard the aircraft. “Thank you very much, Mr President, it’s always great seeing you.”
Trump was all smiles. “Well, the Emir is one of the great rulers of the world, not just the Middle East. He’s beloved and respected by his country,” the president said. “We’ve done a lot together, especially in the last year. What we’ve done is incredible, peace in the Middle East. And they were a very big factor in it, so I just want to thank you.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration brokered a temporary ceasefire to the conflict in Gaza, focusing on the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages, the easing of blockades and facilitating the distribution of aid.
While critics question the longevity of that arrangement, given lingering uncertainty over terms of a lasting peace and Israel’s alleged violation of the current stay in hostilities on multiple occasions since, the MAGA White House has sung Qatar’s praises for its pivotal role as a mediator and financier of the deal.
Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million aircraft from the Qatari state—which has faced fierce international criticism for human rights abuses over years, particularly concerning migrant labor, freedom of expression and LGBTQ+ rights—came as he announced a $1.2 trillion economic partnership between D.C. and Doha, raising concerns over potential conflict of interest.
His warm ties to the Qatari Emir mark a significant departure from relations during his first stint in the White House. In June 2017, he expressed support for a blockade against the country by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt over Qatar’s alleged support for extremist groups in the region.
“Qatar has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” the president then said in remarks made at a White House Rose Garden appearance. “The time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding… and its extremist ideology,” he went on, doubling down on those sentiments when he told crowds in Iowa at a rally three days later: “We cannot let these incredibly rich nations fund radical Islamic terror or terrorism of any kind.”
Now, in his second term, Trump has boasted that he will be flying in his gifted airplane from Qatar as soon as February.
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