One day after the US airstrike that targeted the Iranian top military general Qasem Soleimani and other militants, the foreign minister of Qatar paid a visit to Tehran where he met with his Iranian counterpart.
Qatar's News Agency later posted a photo from the meeting that cause some speculation on whether or not the maroon Qatari flag was changed to black.
HE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs met with HE the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, during his visit to Iran. They discussed the latest developments on the region, and the ways to maintain collective security of the region. #QNA pic.twitter.com/A2zsBuLcUv
— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) January 4, 2020
Online commentators assumed that the black flag was a Qatari gesture to express condolences to Iran after the high ranking military leader was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad's airport Friday morning, noting that it is very unusual for a country to do this.
Several people linked the Qatari foreign minister's visit with reports that the US drone targeting Soleimani was launched from Al-Udeid military airbase in Qatar, suggesting that Doha wanted to disassociate itself from the attack.
The Foreign Minister of Qatar extends the condolences of the government and the Qatari people to Iran in Qassem Soleimani and changes the color of the Qatari flag to black in solidarity with Iran.@RealthingUlli @305local @realDonaldTrump @orchardcitygal @KateStewart22 pic.twitter.com/aFE53YQo5y
— عبدالعزيز آل مصنف (@MBSittioneLOVE) January 4, 2020
Iran changed Qatar’s flag ?? to black as a mourning for Soleimani’s death. What’s funny is they didn’t changed theirs! ? pic.twitter.com/4J5fO36yPK
— M. Haroon ★ ? (@mo7mdd11) January 4, 2020
The drone that killed the Iranian general was flown from Qatar and of think that biggest base of America are in Qatar and Iran showing sign of red flag which is mean they will must take revenge. #IranUsa #WorldWarlll
— Opridai ❤️????❤️ (@BKA70) January 6, 2020
The drones that caused the death of #Solemaini flew from #Qatar ! Later Qatar sent their delivery guy to #Iran out of fear to express their grief and to make sure to stay out of trouble with Iran. And this is how he was greeted, turning the color of their maroon flag to black!?? pic.twitter.com/ARA12WA41C
— Dubai ??❤️ (@SisFine) January 4, 2020
Some users posted photos with different lighting effects, saying that the flag was in its original color, but that it was made of a heavy velvet fabric that, which in addition to a flashlight, made it look like it was black.
#قطر#علم_قطر الي بالصورة مو اسود
— #سعد (@SDX295) January 4, 2020
بعد ما رفعت اضاءة الصورة بين ان العلم عنابي، اتوقع العلم مسوينه من خامة المخمل، ومعروف ان المخمل تتغير درجته حسب زاوية الاضاءة pic.twitter.com/FAypukIupf
Translation: "Qatar's flag in this photo isn't black. I've added more lighting to it and the flag is clearly maroon. I guess they used velvet fabric that looks darker with different angles and lighting."
