Emirati FM: Geneva N. Deal Benefits Whole Region

“The Geneva deal has provided a new breathing atmosphere for the region, and the special conditions are not particularly for Iran and the negotiating countries (the Group 5+1) alone, but all the regional countries have a share in that (atmosphere),” Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan said in Tehran on Thursday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

This comes as Iran and the G5+1 (also known as the P5+1 in diplomatic shorthand) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program after three rounds of intensive talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24. The agreement, which appeared in doubt until the last moment, caps a decade of diplomacy between Iran and the leading western powers.

The deal is intended to allow time to negotiate a comprehensive agreement on the nuclear program.

The top Emirati diplomat also said his country calls for establishment of a joint economic commission with Iran, and expressed Abu Dhabi’s preparedness to expand relations with Tehran in all fields, particularly collaboration between the two countries’ private sectors.

The Iranian president lauded the “fraternity and friendship” between Iran and the UAE, and assured the visiting Emirati minister that “external factors could not damage” the bilateral relations.

Rouhani further pointed to threats of “terrorism” and “extremism” in the Middle East, and noted that the Islamic Republic “favors a stable and developing region.”

The Iranian chief executive further praised “close cultural and economic relations” between the two countries, saying that his administration is set to enhance Tehran’s ties with Abu Dhabi in different sectors.

In his one-day tour of Iran on Thursday, Al Nahyan also met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss issues of mutual interest.

In his meeting with his Emirati counterpart, Zarif said the Islamic Republic considers bilateral ties with its neighbors to be highly significant, stressing that his country regards security and development of the region to be inseparable.

"We see every progress of the countries in the region as a success for ourselves and any sort of danger or threat to them as [one] to ourselves,” said Zarif.

The visit came as the Iranian foreign minister plans to visit Kuwait and Oman in coming days as part of the country's regional diplomacy.