Iran names ambassador to UAE after 8-year hiatus

TEHERAN — Iran appointed its envoy to the United Arab Emirates after eight years of having no ambassador in the country, the official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.

The move comes after Iran welcomed an Emirati ambassador last September ending a six-year absence, Agence France-Presse reported.

The diplomat is identified as Reza Ameri, who was serving as the director-general of the Iranian expatriates office at the Foreign Ministry before his appointment.

"After some eight years, the foreign ministry has named Reza Ameri as the Islamic Republic of Iran's new ambassador to the United Arab Emirates," IRNA reported late on Tuesday.

Ameri had also 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 Iran. In September 2022, the UAE reinstated its ambassador to Iran.

Riyadh restored diplomatic relations with Teheran last month in a fence-mending deal brokered by Beijing.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has accepted an invitation to Riyadh from Saudi Arabia's King Salman, First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber confirmed on Monday.

Iran and the UAE have long had close economic ties which continued during the diplomatic chill.

In another development, United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan confirmed the Gulf state's commitment to relations with Israel in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that discussed strengthening ties, UAE state media said on Tuesday.

A separate statement from Netanyahu's office said the two leaders agreed to "continue the dialogue between them in a personal meeting in the near future".

The phone call follows a series of moves and comments by Netanyahu's right-wing governing coalition that have raised Arab ire and drawn condemnation from the UAE, including over Israeli settlement policy in the occupied West Bank.

The UAE president said his country would work with Israel, Arab nations and international partners "to avoid regional escalation", UAE state news agency WAM reported.

Sheikh Mohammed described the UAE's ties with Israel, forged in 2020 under a US-brokered pact known as the Abraham Accords, as a strategic choice for peace and development, saying the UAE sought increased collaboration across multiple sectors.

Agencies - Xinhua