Iran recently appointed its envoy to the UAE, a post that had been vacant since 2016…reports Asian Lite News
An Iranian lawmaker has said that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is going to meet soon his United Arab Emirates (UAE) counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Yaqoub Rezazadeh, a member of the presiding board of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks in an interview with the Iranian Students’ News Agency on Wednesday.
He noted that the meeting will be held either in Iran or the UAE, Xinhua news agency reported.
Rezazadeh said since the meeting last month between Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and the UAE president, contacts and communications between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan have started, and the two top diplomats are expected to meet in the near future.
The Parliament member also said the possibility exists that Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, who has played a positive role in mediating and bringing about reconciliation among regional countries, would visit Iran in the coming months to help improve Tehran’s relations with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
Iran recently appointed its envoy to the UAE, a post that had been vacant since 2016, the official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.
The new envoy, Reza Ameri, had served as the director general of the Iranian expatriates office at the Foreign Ministry prior to his appointment, Xinhua news agency reported citing local media.
Ameri had also previously served as Iran’s Ambassador to Algeria, Sudan and Eritrea.
In 2016, the UAE downgraded its relations with Iran after Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in January that year after Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran following Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric.
In September 2022, the UAE reinstated its ambassador to Iran.
Arab detente
Less than a month since Tehran and Riyadh agreed to restore diplomatic relations, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to visit the kingdom, a top official confirmed here.
Iran’s first vice president Mohammad Mokhber made the remarks on Monday while he was asked by the media respond to the Saudi King’s invitation to Raisi of visiting Riyadh, Xinhua news agency reported.
China, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced on March 10 that the latter two had reached a deal which includes the agreement to resume diplomatic relations and reopen embassies and missions within two months.
On March 19, Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian President’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, had confirmed that the Saudi king sent the invitation letter to Raisi to visit Riyadh.
In a social media post, Jamshidi had said the monarch said in the letter that he welcomed the deal between the two “brotherly countries” on the normalisation of bilateral ties and called for strong economic and regional cooperation between Riyadh and Tehran.
The two nations have also announced they will reopen embassies within two months and re-establish trade and security relations.