Iran announced on Tuesday that it had appointed an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates for the first time since 2016, amid realignment of relations between the Gulf states and Iran.
The move comes after the United Arab Emirates in August moved to upgrade ties and said it was returning its ambassador to Tehran.
The UAE downgraded relations with Iran after Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
In a change of direction, after years of hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria, Riyadh announced last month that it would restore relations with Tehran. This, through the mediation of China.
The UAE, which has business and trade ties with Iran that go back more than a century, began reconnecting with Tehran in 2019 after attacks on Gulf waters and Saudi energy sites.
The Emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is one of Iran’s main links to the outside world.
Iran’s new ambassador, Reza Amri, served as the director general of the Ministry of Iranian Exiles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to state media in Iran.