Rare Talks Between Iranian, Emirati Foreign Ministers

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on Sunday that he discussed with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan the developments of the novel outbreak of the coronavirus in the region, in addition to other issues.

The Iranian foreign minister wrote on Twitter that he "just had substantive, frank and cordial talks with the Emirati foreign minister.”

[caption id="attachment_140876" align="aligncenter" width="502"] Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif[/caption]

"We agreed to continue the dialogue especially as the region faces difficult challenges and more difficult choices," Zarif said.

According to the official Emirates News Agency, the two ministers exchanged congratulations on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, and discussed developments of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region.

The agency quoted the Emirati Foreign Minister affirming "the importance of strengthening international cooperation, solidarity and synergy between countries" in order to overcome the pandemic challenges.

The U.A.E. reduced the level of diplomatic representation with Iran in January 2016, against the background of intensifying conflict over influence between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to France 24. 

This came after storming the headquarters of the Saudi embassy in Tehran in response to Riyadh's execution of the death sentence against Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Last year, tensions escalated between Tehran on one side and Riyadh and its allies on the other hand after a series of mysterious attacks targeting oil tankers in the Gulf.

Washington accused Tehran of being the incident’s mastermind, while Iran denied.