DUBAI — Iran has appointed Reza Ameri as its first ambassador to the United Arab Emirates after eight years of political strife, Iranian state news outlets reported Tuesday.
Ameri previously held the position of director general of the Iranian expatriate office at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, according to Islamic Republic News Agency. His prior diplomatic posts included serving as Iran’s ambassador to Algeria, Sudan and Eritrea.
Iran’s top security official, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani, held high-level talks in the UAE on March 16, days after Tehran and Riyadh reached a China-mediated deal to establish relations and reopen their embassies within two months and after years of political standoff.
The UAE downgraded its ties with Iran in January of 2016, following Saudi Arabia. Riyadh severed ties with the country after protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran following Saudi’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Relations soured further between Abu Dhabi and Tehran with a series of suspected Iranian drone attacks on tankers off the UAE coast in 2019.
