PARIS (Reuters) – The UAE is working to send an ambassador to Tehran as it seeks to rebuild bridges with Iran, the president’s diplomatic adviser said on Friday, adding that the idea of a confrontational approach to Iran was not something Abu Dhabi supported.
The UAE started engaging with Iran in 2019 following attacks on tankers off Gulf waters and on Saudi energy infrastructure and has held direct talks ever since. Its climate change minister was in Tehran earlier this week.
“Our conversation is ongoing … we are in the process of sending an ambassador to Tehran. All these areas of rebuilding bridges are ongoing,” Anwar Gargash told reporters ahead of a visit to Paris by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Abu Dhabi still shared concerns about Iran’s regional activities but it wanted to work hard on finding diplomatic solutions, he said.
Asked about talk of an anti-Iran alliance to counter its regional activities, Gargash said a Middle East NATO was a “theoretical” concept and that for Abu Dhabi confrontation was not an option.
“The UAE is not going to be a party to any group of countries that sees confrontation as a direction, but we do have serious issues with Iran with its regional politics.”
However, he said the UAE could be part of anything that protects the country from drones and missiles as long as it did not target a third country.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
