UAE president meets Iran’s top security official in Abu Dhabi

The United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed met with the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the official WAM news agency reported.

During the meeting, they discussed “bilateral relations and means of building bridges of cooperation between the two countries in various fields to achieve common interests,” according to WAM.

The two also discussed “regional and international issues and developments of common concern, and the importance of working to support peace and cooperation in the region,” WAM added.

The meeting was attended by several senior Emirati officials, including National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who held a separate meeting with Shamkhani.

“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 the meeting with Sheikh Tahnoun, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

Shamkhani’s visit to the UAE comes soon after Saudi Arabia and Iran announced that they had reached an agreement, brokered by China, to reestablish diplomatic relations.

Shamkhani represented Tehran in the talks that led to the agreement, which was welcomed by the UAE.

The UAE sent an ambassador back to Iran in September, more than six years after Abu Dhabi downgraded ties with Tehran.

The UAE had downgraded its ties with Iran after Saudi Arabia cut ties with the Islamic Republic in 2016 following an attack by supporters of the Iranian regime on its embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad.