The United Arab Emirates’ National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Iran’s capital Tehran on Monday, marking the highest-level visit in more than a decade between the two Middle Eastern countries.
Raisi and Sheikh Tahnoun “discussed prospects of consolidating bilateral ties and explored an array of issues of common interest,” according to Emirati state news agency WAM.
As the UAE seeks to reduce tensions that have threatened the region in recent years to slide toward conflict, strengthening bilateral relations between Iran and the UAE and discussing the latest regional developments are the goals of Sheikh Tahnoun’s visit to Tehran, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said.
The UAE’s official’s visit came days after talks between Iran and world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal adjourned on Friday.
During his visit to Tehran, Sheikh Tahnoun also met his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani.
The visit aims to strengthen “communication and cooperation in the region,” the UAE diplomatic adviser to the presidency, Anwar Gargash, wrote on Twitter.
Tahnoun, a brother of Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, has taken the lead in the UAE’s effort to step back from divisions that have defined the region for a long time, with visits to Turkey and Qatar paving the way to a restoration of ties this year.
Gulf Arab rivalry with Tehran over its nuclear program and its proxy militias in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, split MENA and exacerbated conflicts in the region for years.
However, the two regional powers have held several rounds of Iraqi-mediated talks this year, meeting even during the six months when nuclear talks between world powers and the Islamic Republic were stalled.
Last month, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Baghreri-Kani met with senior Emirati officials in Abu Dhabi.
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