Iran security chief: Regional problems mostly down to US, Zionist regime's mischief

Iran's senior security official links the majority of the region's problems to acts of mischief committed by the United States and the Israeli regime.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani made the remarks during an official visit to Abu Dhabi on Thursday, meeting with the President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Shamkhani again laid emphasis on the role that was being played by extra-regional countries in fomenting regional crises but did not rule out the prospect of enhancement of collective regional security as a result of joint endeavors among the region's players.

"Endeavor towards the attainment of collective security based on indigenous capabilities can serve to end many of current crises," he said.

"Formation of a stronger region is an achievable ideal, towards which all of us have to take [relevant] steps," the Iranian official noted.

Today, the Muslim world and the Persian Gulf region are in need of regional amity, cooperation, and convergence more than anything else, he said, adding, "This imperative can lead to transcendence of all Muslim countries and bring along welfare and calm."

Shamkhani has traveled to the Emirates at the head of a delegation featuring top economic, banking, and security officials, for high-level talks with Emirati officials.

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.

He has already met with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

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 Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Baqir al-Nimr.

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 intensive deliberations between Shamkhani and his Saudi Arabian counterpart in Beijing.

Observers have hailed the detente and the regional convergence that it is expected to bring about as a fatal blow to the US and the Israeli regime's regional schemes and sphere of influence.

Bilateral ties

Turning to the issue of the bilateral ties, the Iranian official laid emphasis on the need for furtherance and deepening of the countries' relations in all fields in light of the long history of their relations as well as the instances of cultural and religious commonality between them.

He assessed the growing trend of political and economic interaction between Tehran and Abu Dhabi as "positive and important," and acknowledged the "special role" that had been played in this regard by the Emirati president.

"Iran and the Emirates can take great strides down the path of development of bilateral cooperation and reinforcement of the diplomacy of neighborliness," Shamkhani said.

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

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

Given the "decisive resolve" of the countries' leaders for all-out expansion of the bilateral ties, the Iranian security chief urged expeditious identification and resolution of all standing impediments to the development of the relations, asserting that any delay in this process "is to everybody's determent."

'A new page in Iran-UAE ties'

For his part, the Emirati official expressed delight over Shamkhani's visit to the UAE and congratulated Tehran on the occasion of its detente with Riyadh, which he praised as a "determining step" towards enhancement of synergy and convergence among regional countries.

Al Nahyan also hoped that Shamkhani's visit would open "a new page in [furtherance of] the relations between Iran and the Emirates."

"The Emirates is very much interested in and ready for resolution of some instances of misunderstanding between the countries towards enhancement of the bilateral relations to their highest level," he noted.

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