TEHRAN – Iran has appointed a new ambassador to the United Arab Emirates eight years after Tehran’s ambassador to the Arab country returned home.

Iranian media reported that the newly-appointed ambassador is Reza Ameri, who also served as Iran’s envoy to Algeria, Sudan, and Eritrea.

Last year, following the agreement between Iran and the UAE, the two countries decided to once again upgrade their diplomatic relations to the level of ambassadors. Saif Mohammad al-Zaabi, the UAE ambassador to Iran, returned to Tehran last year.

Mohammad Reza Fayaz was Iran’s last ambassador to the UAE who returned to Iran in 2016. Since then, Hossein Heidari has been serving as Iran’s chargé d'affaires in the UAE.

The UAE downgraded its diplomatic relations with Iran in 2016 in solidarity with Saudi Arabia which severed its relations with Iran in the same year.

Iran’s relations with its southern Arab neighbors have been rapidly improving since March 10, when Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a Chinese-brokered deal to restore their diplomatic ties.

Recently, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, paid a visit to the UAE, where he met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed, UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed.

In his meeting with Sheikh Tahnoun, Shamkhani called for goodwill to resolve “family differences” and emphasized that in order to address the current challenges, which do not advantage any regional party, cooperation must replace hostilities.

The top Iranian security official reaffirmed Tehran’s unwavering foreign policy stance, which favors collective, enduring, and productive cooperation with neighbors, saying that cooperation and convergence must replace hostility and divergence in order to find a solution to the region’s troubles.

Shamkhani highlighted the need to resolve family conflicts via conversation, goodwill, and compromise so that all nations might work together to build a strong and prosperous region.

He compared regional governments to members of a large family who share a common fate.