Senior Iranian Official Visits UAE on Heels of Saudi Deal
A senior Iranian
official visited the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, just days after Tehran
agreed to restore diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia in a Chinese-brokered
deal that raised hopes of a broader rapprochement across Middle East.
Ali Shamkhani, the head
of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said his visit was a "meaningful
beginning for the two countries to enter a new stage of political, economic and
security relations,” Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported. It said he was
accompanied by the head of Iran's central bank and other senior officials.
He met with the
president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and other senior
officials to discuss "opportunities for enhancing cooperation between the two
countries,” the UAE's official WAM news agency reported.
Sunni Arab rulers in
the Persian Gulf have viewed Iran with suspicion since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution toppled a U.S.-allied monarch in Tehran. Relations have worsened
since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, as Shiite-majority Iran has spread
its influence across the region and supported powerful armed proxies in Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and the Palestinian territories.
In the Chinese-brokered
agreement, which built on talks held in Iraq in recent years, Saudi Arabia and
Iran agreed to restore diplomatic ties which were severed in 2016, when Saudi
Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and Iranian protesters stormed its
embassy in Tehran.
The deal raised hopes
for a lasting peace in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been at war with the
Iran-aligned Houthi militia since 2015. That conflict has killed tens of
thousands of people and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of
famine
The UAE, a close Saudi
ally that also intervened in Yemen, returned its ambassador to Iran last August
for the first time since 2016, as did the Gulf Arab nation of Kuwait. Dubai, a
major international business hub in the UAE, is home to a large Iranian
community.
Suspicions still run
deep, however, especially following a series of attacks on oil tankers off the
coast of the UAE, as well as Saudi oil facilities, in 2019, which were widely
blamed on Iran. Last year, a drone strike launched by the Iran-backed Houthis
hit Abu Dhabi, hurting the UAE's reputation as a safe harbor in the volatile
Middle East.
The UAE was the first
of four Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel in the so-called
Abraham Accords in 2020. The two countries were drawn together in large part
because of their shared suspicions of Iran. Israel views Iran as its greatest
threat, and the two countries have waged a shadow war for several years.
The Saudi-Iran deal
raised concerns in Israel, which has long hoped to forge an alliance with Arab
Gulf states against Tehran.
VOA
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