Tehran, Iran, July 14
By A. Shirazi - Trend
An official with Iranian Fars Province’s governorate rejected reports that Qatar has been in talks with Iran to rent land and pasture its camels after Saudi Arabia broke off relations with it.
Reports by social media that Qatari-owned camels and sheep are expected to graze on rented land in the Iranian southern province of Fars are “sheer” lies, Tarahom Behzad told Mehr news agency on July 14.
“No camels have entered Iran’s pastures from Persian Gulf littoral states, including Qatar,” he said.
The official noted that social media rumors are aimed creating social tensions in the country.
“Qatar has not yet contacted us or made any request to use Iran’s land for its camels,” Behzad stressed.
Recently, reports by Iranian websites and social media groups said Qatar was in talks with Iranian officials in the city of Shiraz to rent land and pasture its camels.
At least 12,000 Qatari-owned camels and sheep have been ordered out of Saudi Arabia as both sides in the Persian Gulf diplomatic crisis refuse to back down, earlier reports said.
A 4,500-mile-square peninsula in the Persian Gulf, Qatar has little land to pasture its camels, which are a backbone of traditional culture and recreation there. In the past, many Qatari families have simply pastured their camels in Saudi Arabia, traveling back and forth across the border to tend to their livestock.
Last June, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed an embargo on Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism. The four states cut diplomatic and transport ties.
Qatar, which had many of its imports trans-shipped from the UAE and received the bulk of its fresh food across the Saudi border, denied the accusations against it.
