US President Donald Trump hosted Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani for dinner in New York on Friday, days after an Israeli strike in Doha killed several Hamas officials.
The meeting capped a day of high level contacts between the Qatari leader and senior US figures.Earlier, secretary of state Marco Rubio and vice president JDVance held talks with Sheikh Mohammed at the White House, highlighting Washington’s effort to balance relations with both Israel and Qatar.
Trump was joined at the dinner by middle east special envoy Steve Witkoff, as the president marked the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in New York.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al Muftah, said through a post on X.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said that Vance and Rubio praised Qatar’s “tireless mediation efforts and its effective role in bringing peace to the region,” describing Doha as a “reliable strategic ally of the United States of America.”
Al Thani, meanwhile, said, "the State of Qatar will take all measures to protect its security and safeguard its sovereignty in the face of the blatant Israeli attack,” through a statement, as cited by the Times of Israel.
Trump had said earlier that he was “not thrilled about the whole situation” following Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.
He further cautioned that the attack could undermine ongoing efforts to secure a fragile Gaza ceasefire.
“I’m not thrilled about the whole situation. It’s not a good situation,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“But I will say this, we want the hostages back, but we are not thrilled about the way that went down," he said, adding that he was unhappy about every aspect.
The statement followed an Israeli airstrike on residential buildings in Doha’s Katara district, where Hamas leaders had gathered to discuss Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal.
Though the top officials escaped unharmed, six people, including a Qatari security officer, were killed. Qatar condemned the strike as “state terrorism” and vowed to respond.
