News / Politics

Iran’s neighborliness policy aims to establish ‘strong region’: Top security official

Thursday, 16 March 2023 7:58 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 16 March 2023 8:32 AM ]

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani

Iran’s top security official says the administration’s neighborliness policy is intended to create a “strong region” by bringing regional countries together.

Speaking to IRNA on Thursday morning before departing Tehran for Abu Dhabi, Ali Shamkhani expressed hopes that a stable and secure region would be achievable through regional cooperation.

“The view of the 13th administration on the regional cooperation that is being pursued in the framework of neighborliness diplomacy is to create a ‘strong region,’” said Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

“If all the countries in the region come to believe that they can achieve stability and endurable security only by trying to create a strong region, we can hope for the formation of new developments in bilateral and multilateral relations in the region,” he said.

He added that Tehran and Abu Dhabi have numerous commonalities in political, economic and security fields, emphasizing that officials from both sides should hold frequent consultations to make use of their capabilities.

A report by Nour News, a website close to the SNSC, said on Wednesday that Shamkhani will hold talks with his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, as well as other senior Emirati officials to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues. Senior economic, banking and security officials will accompany the top Iranian security official.

Iran’s top security official to visit UAE on Thursday for high-level talks

The top security official will be visiting the UAE on Thursday for talks with top Emirati officials.

The UAE reinstated its ambassador to Iran in September, more than six years after ties between the two sides were downgraded following the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters over the execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Baqir al-Nimr, by Saudi Arabia.

The top Iranian security official’s visit to Abu Dhabi comes less than a week after Iran and Saudi Arabia announced the normalization of their ties following several days of hectic deliberations between Shamkhani and his Saudi Arabian counterpart in Beijing.

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