DOHA: Qatar's prime minister condemned Iran's attacks on Gulf states in a call with Tehran's foreign minister Wednesday, the first high-level contact since the Islamic republic launched its missile and drone campaign.
Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani accused Iran of seeking to "harm its neighbours and drag them into a war that is not theirs", on the call with Iran's Abbas Araghchi, according to a statement by Qatar's foreign ministry.
Gulf countries have borne much of Tehran's response since the US and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran over the weekend with an 11-year-old girl killed in Kuwait on Wednesday by falling shrapnel.
Thirteen people, seven of them civilians, have been killed in countries around the Gulf since the war began.
The Pentagon has announced the deaths of six US servicemen since Saturday, four of them in Kuwait.
The Qatari prime minister urged "an immediate halt to these attacks" on the call and said Iran had "struck civilian and residential areas" despite Araghchi's assertion "the Iranian missile attacks were directed at US interests and did not target the State of Qatar".
"These attacks cannot pass without a response," Sheikh Mohammed added.
Kuwait's health ministry said "resuscitation was performed in the ambulance while the girl was being transported to the hospital," adding attempts continued for nearly half an hour at Al-Amiri Hospital but she "passed away due to her injuries".
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar said they had intercepted Iranian drone and missile barrages, with the UAE reporting it engaged three ballistic missiles and intercepted 121 of 129 drones, while Qatar said it shot down 10 drones and two cruise missiles.