Middle East
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (left) and United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (right). Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Wednesday held a phone call with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf to discuss efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, Emirati state media reported.
The call marks the most significant diplomatic contact between the two countries since the six-week Iran conflict, during which Tehran launched hundreds of attacks against alleged US targets in the UAE, prompting Abu Dhabi to recall its ambassador and close its embassy in Tehran.
“A phone call was held between His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the State, Deputy Prime Minister, and Chairman of the Presidential Court, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Emirates News Agency reported.
“During the call, the two sides discussed regional developments and ways to de-escalate tensions in the region,” the state-run agency added.
The US and Israel launched a coordinated military campaign against Iran on February 28 that ended with a Pakistan-brokered two-week truce last week. US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that during the war, its forces struck more than 13,000 targets across Iran, while Israel said it struck over 10,000 additional targets.
For its part, Tehran carried out thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets - particularly in Gulf Arab states - as well as launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.
Abu Dhabi’s defense ministry reported last week that it had intercepted nearly 2,900 aerial threats launched by Iran against its territory during the six-week war, killing more than a dozen people and injuring over 220 others in the UAE, it added.
Amid the escalation, the UAE in early March recalled its ambassador to Iran, Saif Mohammed Al Zaabi, and closed its embassy in Tehran over what the Emirati foreign ministry described as a “flagrant violation of national sovereignty” and a “clear breach of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
The renewed diplomatic engagement between Abu Dhabi and Tehran follows a Thursday call between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan, during which they discussed regional de-escalation and security, Riyadh’s foreign ministry reported.
The latter call also marked the first contact between the two countries since the eruption of the Iran war, during which Tehran launched dozens of attacks on purported US targets in Saudi Arabia.
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