Doha: Qatar is hoping big investment and trade deals with the US will help restore its position as a Middle East power broker after charges of World Cup graft and other charges did some damage.

The country, adept at using finance as a form of “soft power”, also wants to reverse what it sees as waning US interest in Gulf Arab states and ensure US rapprochement with Iran does not shift it from the centre of Middle East politics.

At the launch of a US-Qatar Economic and Investment Dialogue in Washington in October, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the partnership with Qatar was ”absolutely essential and fundamental” to American strategy in the region.

“The US and Qatar are partners economically just as we are in the security sphere,” said Blinken, adding that Qatar plays an outsized diplomatic and strategic role and is a “very significant” source of foreign capital.

He was speaking after the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), one of the world’s most aggressive sovereign wealth funds, announced it pledged to invest $35 billion (Dh128.55 billion) in the US over the next five years.

“Qatari investments are not purely financial, but carry with them a political aspect,” said analyst Ganem Nuseibeh of Cornerstone Global Associates.

“The Qataris are trying to tell the Americans ‘look our relationship is about more than just politics’ it’s holistic it involves other sectors, this investment is to compensate for any political rifts or disagreements with the Americans.’”

Those strains have included disagreements with Washington over the Qatari approach to conflicts like Libya and Syria.

Qatar prides itself on being able to convene a bewildering array of big name guests. Home to the biggest US military land base in the Middle East, and campuses from six top US universities, Qatar also hosts delegates of the Afghan Taliban and Palestinian Hamas, among other Islamist groups.

Some Qataris remain wary of US assurances that it remains a good ally. They worry that America’s strategic interests in the Gulf have been affected by a cautious detente now under way with Tehran, and may not always be matched with a willingness to commit manpower and guarantee its security.

“There is this perception that the US is no longer playing the role it used to in the Middle East,” said a former Qatari official, referring to President Barack Obama’s policies.

“Obama is pulling back at a time when others, like Russia and Iran, are moving in and becoming more hands on. Of course America must think about its future and its allies in the region, that’s normal — but we must think about our future too.” By devoting billions to US investments, Qatar is not only showing Washington that there may be a benefit to doing business with Doha even if they disagree politically, diplomats say, but also buying itself room to manoeuvre. At the UN General Assembly in September, Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, offered Qatar as a venue for a “meaningful dialogue” to repair rifts between Gulf Arabs and Iran.