Iran and Qatar mull major undersea tunnel project

Iran and Qatar are to start feasibility studies on a major sea tunnel project that connects the two countries beneath the Persian Gulf, Iran’s ports authority chief executive Ali Akbar Safaei said on Sunday.

According to him, the undersea tunnel is one of four major transportation projects that is planned to be discussed and agreed during an imminent visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi to Qatar.

"This project is considered a huge transformation for Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Iran as it links the Persian Gulf to the north and to the south and creates an expanded connectivity between West Asian countries and the Caspian Sea all the way to the Mediterranean," Safaei was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

He said the tunnel will link Iran’s Port of Dayyer in the southern province of Bushehr to Qatar, adding that it will include rail and road infrastructure.

Farming ministers of Iran and Brazil sign a deal to barter fertilizer for animal feed between the two.

The official said Iran and Qatar will finalize the project once a joint committee finishes studies and negotiations on the project. However, Safaei said the project will be discussed during Raeisi’s Monday visit to Doha where the Iranian president and accompanying officials are expected to sign three major transportation agreements with Qatar.

Iran’s transportation minister Rostam Qassemi was in Doha on Sunday to hold final talks on the deals which mostly focus on increased transit of flights operated by Qatari airlines through the Iranian airspace.

Qassemi said he had discussed the undersea tunnel with Qatari authorities as he suggested that the two countries will agree to allow the start of studies on the project during Raeisi’s visit to Doha.