Iranian president expresses 'heartfelt amity' toward UAE
Despite past tensions, Iran and the UAE look to better ties to defuse friction in the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s newly inaugurated President Ebrahim Raisi said Friday that he wants to have close relations with the United Arab Emirates.
Raisi met with a UAE envoy in Tehran. During the meeting, he praised the Emirates as an “honest friend” of Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. He also expressed support for the two countries working together. The statement from the president's website regarding the meeting did not name the Emirati envoy.
“We hold a spirit of heartfelt amity toward the Emirati nation,” said Raisi, according to the semi-official Press TV. “Close relationship between the two governments can pave the way for brotherly relations and close cooperation between the two nations.”
Raisi also criticized the UAE’s normalization agreement with Israel to the envoy and said he expects Arab and Muslim states to support the Palestinians, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
