The Middle East cannot afford another US-Iran confrontation, and Tehran must seek a nuclear agreement with Washington, the UAE president’s diplomatic adviser said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
Iran and the United States are scheduled to resume nuclear talks in Turkey on Friday. US President Donald Trump warned that the presence of US warships near Iran could trigger “bad things” if a deal is not reached.
Anwar Gargash stressed the need for a lasting solution, saying, “The region has endured too many crises. Direct Iranian-American negotiations are essential to prevent recurring tensions.”
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will meet in Istanbul in an effort to revive diplomacy over a long-running dispute about Iran’s nuclear programme and dispel fears of a new regional war. A regional diplomat said representatives from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt would also participate.
The US naval buildup near Iran follows a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has since demanded Tehran make nuclear concessions and sent a flotilla to its coast. He said last week Iran was “seriously talking”, while Tehran’s top security official Ali Larijani said arrangements for negotiations were under way.
The UAE, a regional trade and business hub, has been in the spotlight since December when tensions rose with Saudi Arabia over developments in Yemen.
The withdrawal of Emirati forces from Yemen following a Saudi airstrike did not defuse tensions between two Gulf oil powers with long-running differences.
Since then the UAE has faced withering criticism on social media over its support for separatists in Yemen and alleged backing for a paramilitary group accused of atrocities in the devastating war against Sudan’s military.
Gargash dismissed the criticism, saying the noise should be separated from reality.
“I was reading a message that said we were getting 45,000 hate tweets every day on the Sudan issue and on our position in Sudan. And suddenly Yemen was an issue, and suddenly the Sudan bots were reduced from 45,000 to 3,000 a day, so the whole group moved on to another fight,” he said.
Source: Dunya News
