Qatar expects that the Israel-Iran ceasefire announced earlier this week will hold, government spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told NewsNation’s Brian Entin on Thursday. “Any ceasefire anywhere in the world is fragile.

In public, Qatar was insisting on the right to defend itself after Iran attacked a U.S. military site in the emirate. Behind the scenes, it was already mediating a truce between Israel and Iran.

The aging leader’s message was defiant but somber, delivered in front of a tan curtain flanked by an Iranian flag and a portrait of his predecessor.