Iran appoints first U.A.E. ambassador since 2016 as Gulf relations improve

President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets with Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March 16, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran said on Tuesday it had appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates for the first time since 2016, amid a realignment of relations between Gulf states and Iran.

The move comes after the U.A.E. in August moved to upgrade ties and said it was returning its ambassador to Tehran.

The U.A.E. downgraded relations with Iran after Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric.

In a step change to years of hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria, Riyadh last month said it would re-establish relations with Tehran in a China-brokered deal.

The U.A.E., which has business and trade ties with Iran stretching back more than a century, started re-engaging with Tehran in 2019 after attacks in Gulf waters and on Saudi energy sites.

The U.A.E.’s Dubai emirate has long being one of Iran’s main links to the outside world.

Iran’s newly appointed ambassador Reza Ameri had served as the director general of the Iranian expatriate’s office in the Foreign Ministry, Iranian state media said.