Senior Iranian official visits UAE after deal with Saudi Arabia to restore ties

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser holds a meeting in Abu Dhabi with his Iranian counterpart, whose visit to the UAE comes days after a surprise rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh.

Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a brother of the UAE’s president, received Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the official WAM news agency says.

The two officials discussed “bilateral relations and opportunities to advance them in a way that serves the mutual interests of the two countries,” WAM says, without elaborating.

Sheikh Tahnoun previously met Shamkhani on a visit to Iran in 2021, the first trip of its kind since relations between the two countries were downgraded in 2016.

Shamkhani called his UAE visit “a meaningful beginning for the two countries to enter a new stage of political, economic and security relations,” Iran’s state news agency IRNA says.

His visit comes after Iran and Saudi Arabia announced a Chinese-brokered deal on Friday to end a seven-year rupture in diplomatic ties.

Shamkhani had traveled to Beijing for intensive talks with his Saudi counterpart ahead of the shock announcement.

“We should try to increase the security, peace and well-being of the people of the region through dialogue and interaction… while preventing foreigners from playing a non-constructive role,” Shamkhani said during today’s meeting with Sheikh Tahnoun, IRNA reports.