First UAE ambassador appointed by Iran since 2016 as Gulf relations improve

 

In the midst of a reorientation of Gulf governments' relations with Iran, Iran announced on Tuesday that it had appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates for the first time since 2016.

The action comes after the U.A.E. upgraded relations and announced it was sending its ambassador back to Iran in August.

Following Saudi Arabia's severing of ties with Iran in January 2016 as a result of Iranian demonstrators storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran following Riyadh's death of a prominent Shi'ite cleric, the United Arab Emirates lowered relations with Iran.

Riyadh announced last month that it would reestablish relations with Tehran in a deal brokered by China, marking a significant change from years of hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and fueled conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.

After strikes in Gulf waters and on Saudi oil sites, the United Arab Emirates, which has had economic and trading connections with Iran for more than a century, began to engage with Tehran again in 2019.

Iran's primary gateway to the outside world has traditionally been the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Reza Ameri, Iran's recently appointed ambassador, was once the director general of the Foreign Ministry's office for Iranian expatriates, according to Iranian state media.