A senior Iranian official visited the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, in a visit which came just days after Tehran agreed to restore diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, The Associated Press reported.
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.
Shamkhani 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.
The meeting comes almost one week after Iran and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement on restoration of their diplomatic ties.
The two countries will reopen their embassies in Riyadh and Tehran within 60 days, Iranian media reported.
The deal also raised hopes for a lasting peace in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been at war with the Iran-aligned Houthi militia since 2015.
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 Kuwait.
The UAE was one of four Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel in the so-called Abraham Accords which were brokered by the US in 2020.
The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran resulted in concerns in Israel, which has hoped to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia as well.
Saudi officials have repeatedly said that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.