Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Emirati academic, Abdul Khaliq Abdullah, indicated, on Wednesday, “the keenness of the UAE and Iran to improve relations between the two countries and resolve their differences,” commenting on the reception of the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hussein Amir Abdollahian, to the UAE ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Tehran Seif Al-Zaabi.
Abdul Khaliq Abdullah commented on his Twitter account on the meeting, saying: “Saif Al Zaabi, the UAE ambassador in Tehran, was received by Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian, and an Emirati-Iranian keenness to advance relations between the two countries and resolve their differences, foremost of which is a 50-year conflict over occupied Emirati islands.”
He added, “The region is better off with direct dialogue to ease tensions and conflicts.”
According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, “The Iranian Foreign Minister received the UAE ambassador, who returned to Tehran to resume his work.”
“We are interested in developing relations with all our neighbors, including the United Arab Emirates, on the basis of the neighborhood policy,” Abdullahian said, during the meeting, which took place on Tuesday. The relations between the two countries, and the meeting of the Supreme Committee for Cooperation between the two countries, organizing consular relations, and facilitating the activities of Iranian educational, service and medical institutions in the UAE,” IRNA reported.
It is noteworthy that the UAE announced, in August, the return of its ambassador to Iran, to resume his duties in the coming days, according to a statement by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The UAE Foreign Ministry statement stated that the decision comes “in line with the UAE’s efforts to strengthen relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and as part of a previous decision to increase diplomatic representation to the rank of ambassador.”
On July 26, a phone call took place between Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and his Iranian counterpart, Hussein Amir Abdullahian, during which it was agreed that the Emirati ambassador to Tehran would resume his duties in the coming days, according to the statement.
The UAE reduced the level of diplomatic representation with Iran to the level of charge d’affaires in January 2022, coinciding with the tense relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after Riyadh executed 47 people, including the Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.