Iran wants to make a fresh start with the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) and look to the future, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, a day after his surprise meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed on the margins of the Brics Summit in New Delhi.
Few details have emerged about the meeting, held ahead of a planned gathering of Iranian officials with their counterparts from Gulf states and Iraq in Oman on September 14 to discuss an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz. The meeting was held even as Iran and the UAE set aside their differences over the West Asia conflict to facilitate a joint declaration at the Brics Summit on Saturday.
“We had a good conversation with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and agreed to put the past behind us and look to the future,” Pezeshkian told Iranian reporters after the conclusion of the Brics Summit. Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that the meeting in Oman on September 14 is meant to “promote better understanding among the countries of the region and help strengthen shared regional security”. However, Bahrain , a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks, said it will not participate in the meeting. The joint declaration adopted at the summit reflected opposition to such attacks, and broader concern over unilateralism and violations of international law, Pezeshkian said. Opposition to unilateral sanctions and coercive measures was another shared position at the summit, and many leaders spoke of the need to to expand trade in national currencies, he said. He also thanked India for hosting a summit with the theme of “Resilience, Cooperation and Sustainability” as this reflects fundamental global needs at a time when the destinies of nations are increasingly interconnected. The world community’s challenge is not merely managing crises, but building a system that strengthens nations against future crises and creates a fairer world, he said.
He didn’t provide further details.
