UAE welcomes Iran-Saudi deal as ‘important step for regional stability, prosperity’

The United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Saturday welcomed the deal reached by Saudi Arabia and Iran to re-establish diplomatic relations.

“The restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran is an important step for the region towards stability and prosperity,” tweeted Al Nahyan.

Last year, Iran said it wanted to boost relations with the UAE, welcoming an Emirati ambassador back to Tehran after a six-year absence.

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after seven years of tensions. The major diplomatic breakthrough was negotiated with China.

The deal was widely seen as a blow to Israel and the United States.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been set to visit the UAE in January, but the trip was cancelled, apparently amid tensions after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount.

However, a report last week said the UAE cancelled Netanyahu’s trip to Abu Dhabi due to concerns the Israeli premier wanted to use the visit to speak publicly against Iran.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, at right, shakes hands with Saudi national security adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban, at left, as Wang Yi, China’s most senior diplomat, looks on, at center, for a photo during a closed meeting held in Beijing, March 11, 2023 (Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua via AP)

According to a Walla news site, citing three Israeli officials with knowledge of the matter, the trip was cancelled due to concerns Netanyahu’s conduct during the visit could increase regional tensions with Iran rather than focusing on the Abraham Accords and bilateral relations, which had warmed in the wake of the signing of the deal to normalize ties.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the visit was scrapped due to scheduling issues.

Al Nahyan’s Saturday statement came a day after a senior Israeli official traveling with Netanyahu to Italy tried to blame the Tehran-Riyadh agreement on the previous Israeli government and the Biden administration’s combined weakness.

However, in a series of tweets, the Walla news site’s diplomatic correspondent pointed out that the talks between Tehran and Riyadh in fact began while Netanyahu was prime minister, when he had just received the mandate to try and form a new coalition — efforts which eventually failed.

Former prime minister Yair Lapid — now opposition chairman — scoffed at the accusations from Netanyahu’s government, tweeting that his government put every other issue aside when it became clear to them that the Biden administration was on the verge of re-entering the Iran nuclear deal. “We worked on it 24/7,” Lapid said, suggesting that Israel played a role in blocking the deal.

He contrasted that with the current government’s tenure, during which Iran has succeeded in enriching uranium to 84% purity.

Meanwhile Friday, Iran National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani told Iran’s Nour News that the agreement his government inked with Saudi Arabia “will definitely be a serious obstacle to the presence and interference of extra-regional countries and the Zionist regime in the region.”

The deal also appeared to mark a blow to Israeli efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations welcomed the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement and thanked China for its role. “Good neighborly relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are essential for the stability of the Gulf region,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.

The US also welcomed “any efforts to help end the war in Yemen and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

However, the State Department offered a word of caution about an agreement in which America seems to have played no part: “Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Iranian regime will honor their side of the deal.”

Tensions long have been high between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom broke ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts there. Saudi Arabia had executed a prominent Shiite cleric with 46 others days earlier, triggering the demonstrations.

That came as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, then a deputy, began his rise to power. The son of King Salman, Prince Mohammed previously compared Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler, and threatened to strike Iran.

Since then, the US unilaterally withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks after that, including one targeting the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in 2019, temporarily halving the kingdom’s crude production.

Though Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels initially claimed the attack, Western nations and experts blamed Tehran. Iran denied it and also denied carrying out other assaults later attributed to the Islamic Republic.

Religion also plays a key role in their relations. Saudi Arabia, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray toward five times a day, has portrayed itself as the world’s leading Sunni nation. Iran’s theocracy, meanwhile, views itself as the protector of Islam’s Shiite minority.

Lazar Berman contributed to this report.