UAE adviser says Iran trust is necessary but difficult

A senior United Arab Emirates official said on Monday that rebuilding trust with Iran is necessary but will be difficult, while calling for wider Gulf dialogue with Tehran on security and economic issues.

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, told the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi that dialogue with Iran should address security, non-interference, freedom of navigation, economic cooperation and the rebuilding of confidence.

“Geography leaves us no alternative to engagement,” Gargash said, adding that restoring a functional relationship with Iran was necessary but restoring broken trust would be “far more difficult”.

Gargash also said Gulf countries had not responded collectively to the Iranian threat during the Middle East war. He said individual countries had shown strength in responding to Iran's attacks, but that this had not translated into an equally effective regional strategy.

The UAE lies across the Gulf from Iran, close to the Strait of Hormuz. The supplied account said 3,300 missiles and drones targeted the UAE in the early weeks of the war.

Relations appeared to ease after a June ceasefire between the United States and Iran, but tankers belonging to the state-owned UAE oil company ADNOC have come under repeated attack in recent weeks.

Tehran has also said it targeted bases housing US troops in the UAE in recent days. The UAE denied there was a missile attack on its air base the first time Iran made such a claim and did not comment on later Iranian claims of attacks on UAE bases.