Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has declared the military and security attaches of the Iranian Embassy, along with their office staff, persona non grata, giving them 24 hours to leave the country. The decision, announced Wednesday evening on X, was attributed to repeated Iranian acts of aggression against Qatar.
The expulsion follows a missile strike by Iran on Ras Laffan Industrial City, a sprawling complex northeast of Doha that hosts the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility.
QatarEnergy said the attack caused “extensive damage,” but confirmed that all personnel were safe and no casualties occurred. Civil defense teams were deployed to extinguish fires at the facility, which produces around 20 percent of the world’s LNG.
The combined diplomatic and military incidents represent the sharpest escalation between Qatar and Iran in years, ending decades of a largely stable partnership centered on their shared offshore gas field.
