Rivals Iran, UAE begin 1st maritime talks since 2013
To calm tensions, Abu Dhabi eager to revive talks that had been off since 2013
DUBAI/TEHRAN: Iran received a coastguard delegation from the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday aimed at reviving maritime security talks that were cut off in 2013, state media reported.
“The sixth joint coastguard meeting between Iran and a visiting seven-member delegation from the UAE will be held in Tehran in order to discuss border cooperation between the two countries,” state news agency IRNA said, citing a statement from Iran’s foreign ministry.
Illegal trafficking and shared maritime borders are among the topics to be discussed, according to the report. The meeting is the first between the coast guards of the two nations since 2013.
It comes after the confrontation between Iran and the US sent tensions in the Persian Gulf soaring, with American officials blaming Iran for recent attacks on oil tankers off the UAE coast.
Revival of the maritime security talks by the traditional foes is seen as an apparent bid to calm tensions in the Gulf, although a Gulf official described the discussions as routine and technical.
The talks follow weeks of heightened political friction around the strategic waterway stemming from hostility between Tehran and Washington, the main Western ally of Gulf Arab states long wary of the Islamic Republic. The discussions had been off since 2013, but the UAE is widely seen in the region as wanting to guard its reputation as a safe business hub.
Without giving a source, ISNA news agency said issues from shared borders, visits by citizens of each nation, illegal entries, and maritime connections would be discussed. A Gulf official said the meeting was not related to tensions in the region. “It is a technical meeting that was organised a long time ago to discuss routine maritime issues,” the official told Reuters.
Attacks on Saudi tankers and other vessels off the UAE coast in May increased tensions between the US, Iran and Gulf Arab states. Washington and its Sunni Arab allies blamed Iran for the attacks, but Tehran denied that. The UAE tempered its reaction to the attacks, and has also scaled back its military presence in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is involved in a proxy war with Shia Iran. Iran has said it wants to improve relations with its regional Sunni rivals Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “Iran has always given extreme importance to the security of the Persian Gulf and it needs cooperation among all Persian Gulf states,” said an Iranian official.
Washington and Tehran are in a protracted standoff over Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes, and its regional influence. Washington has imposed and tightened sanctions on Iran’s oil exports after President Donald Trump pulled out of Iran’s 2015 deal with major powers, under which Tehran got access to world trade in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
Tehran has repeatedly warned it would block exports through the waterway if the US tried to strangle its economy.