The 13th government and the new chapter of relations with neighbors

It has been seven years since the UAE downgraded its political and diplomatic relations with Tehran from ambassador to chargé d’affaires following the severing of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2014. Now, Abu Dhabi has decided to once again expand the level of its relations with Iran in the political arena and raise these relations to the ambassador level.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday, Sunday, August 30, 1401, that the country’s ambassador to Iran will start his mission in Tehran in the coming days.

Based on this, the official news agency of the Emirates announced: In the framework of the desire of the President of the UAE to strengthen relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and in line with the implementation of the previous decision to raise the level of diplomatic relations to the level of ambassador and the phone call that took place on June 26, 2022 between Sheikh Abdullah bin Foreign Minister Zayed Al-Nahyan and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein AmirAbdollahian in this case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided that Saif Mohammad Al-Zaabi will return to Tehran as the ambassador of the UAE government in the coming days.

According to the Emirati ministry, “this action is carried out in the framework of coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and according to the current diplomatic norms and customs between the countries.”

Also, “Anwar Gargash”, the adviser to the head of the UAE government on diplomatic affairs, in response to the return of the country’s ambassador to Tehran, wrote on his Twitter page: The decision of the UAE leadership to return its ambassador to Tehran is in line with the country’s regional approach of repairing bridges and strengthening relations. It is to create an atmosphere of trust and understanding and cooperation.

This Emirati official added, we believe that Arab and regional cooperation and coordination is necessary to create a stable region and a prosperous future.

Restoration of Tehran-Abu Dhabi relations through diplomatic traffic

The improvement of Iran-UAE relations is the result of the 13th government’s approach in the field of foreign policy, which gives priority to neighbors and countries in the region. In this regard, we always see diplomatic traffic between diplomats and different officials of Iran to neighboring countries and vice versa.

As it appears from the text of the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, this incident is related to the diplomatic traffic and negotiations that have taken place between Tehran and Abu Dhabi in this one year of the 13th government.

According to Ali Bagheri, Political Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, in December 1400 after his visit to the UAE, a new page was opened in the relations between Iran and the UAE.

During this period, the authorities of Iran and the UAE tried to increase the political dialogue between them to manage the differences. With this intention, in the last four months, the foreign ministers of the two countries have held two telephone consultations and met once in Abu Dhabi, and during this conversation, the UAE authorities invited Ayatollah Seyed Ibrahim Raisi to visit the UAE. They acted.

On April 20 of this year, in a telephone conversation with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, the activation of bilateral relations committees on agreed issues and the exchange of delegations are effective in strengthening and expanding bilateral relations. knew

After the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE on May 23, Hossein Amir Abdullahiyan sent his condolences to his Emirati counterpart and left for Abu Dhabi on May 26 to participate in the death ceremony of the late president of this country.

Why is Abu Dhabi turning towards Tehran?

From the point of view of observers, there are various reasons for the UAE’s turn towards Iran. First of all, Abu Dhabi is trying to practically strengthen its security relations by resuming relations with Tehran, because the continuation of the war in Yemen and the occasional missile and drone attacks by Ansarullah and the Houthis have affected the conditions of the UAE in terms of security, tourism and foreign investment. It has been associated with problems.

In such an atmosphere, Abu Dhabi is trying to improve the security environment in terms of peripheral security in the Middle East and Persian Gulf region, and more importantly, internal security within the territory of the UAE, in the shadow of the resumption of relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On the other hand, Abu Dhabi is trying to achieve a balanced, flexible and comprehensive foreign policy to strengthen and increase the diplomatic weight of the United Arab Emirates in the region and the world.

With such a view, the UAE, in order to strengthen its regional and global diplomatic weight, is trying to revive the same current relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia on the opposite front with the Islamic Republic of Iran, in order to establish and improve relations with all the benefits, interests and resources. These actors obtained their desired points on different fronts, but similar to this procedure has been put on the agenda by some other countries in the region during these years.

Another reason for the desire of the UAE to improve relations with Iran is due to the behavior of other Arab actors in the Persian Gulf. Kuwait also recently and six years after recalling its ambassador from Tehran as a sign of solidarity with Saudi Arabia, finally appointed a new ambassador to Iran.

In addition to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia has also held several rounds of negotiations with Iran. According to the officials of Tehran and Riyadh, the negotiations were constructive.

In general, the United Arab Emirates, after the passage of seven years, is trying to upgrade the diplomatic level with Tehran from acting as ambassador.