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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The UAE plans to reinstate its ambassador to Iran for the first time in six years, as the Gulf Arab Federation accelerates efforts to improve relations with the country, the UAE’s foreign ministry announced Sunday. Long seen as a regional threat.
According to the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency, the UAE ambassador to Iran, Saif Mohammed Al-Zabi, will return to Tehran in the coming days to “continue to push bilateral relations forward to achieve the mutual interests of the two neighbouring countries and the region.” .
The move comes as U.S. and Iranian diplomats now seek to end 16 months of negotiations to revive Tehran’s landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
Other Gulf Arab states advocated detente. Last week, Kuwait appointed a new ambassador to Tehran for the first time since 2016. Saudi Arabia has also worked to de-escalate tensions with Iran in a series of talks brokered by Baghdad.
Relations between the Gulf Arab emirate and Iran have soured after Iranians stormed two Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran to protest the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. In 2016, the UAE summoned its ambassador to Tehran. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated further as the UAE backs former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal and a so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.
But Abu Dhabi is trying to reconsider after Iran was blamed for a series of attacks on tankers and Saudi oil facilities off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in 2019. Meanwhile, Dubai, with its large Iranian diaspora, has long been their lifeline. The outside world that Tehran suffers under international sanctions.
Although the UAE normalized relations with Tehran’s regional foe Israel last year, Emirati officials have stepped up efforts to promote trade ties with Iran and reduce the threat of its regional proxies. Drone and missile strikes by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen hit Abu Dhabi earlier this year, damaging the UAE’s reputation as a safe haven in a troubled region.
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