Israeli media: Deep concern over Iran-UAE rapprochement
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Israeli worry over rapprochement with Iran exacerbates after each visit by an Arab country to Tehran.
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Shamkhani welcomes the UAE National Security Advisor, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Tehran, December 6, 2021 (AFP)
A "rare event"; this is how the Israeli officials described the first visit in a decade by a Gulf official to Tehran, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
The newspaper related Israeli concern over the signs of rapprochement between Iran and the UAE via a highly ranked security source who said that rapprochement with Iran in parallel with that with “Israel” is not possible.
The Israeli source expressed, according to the newspaper, "deep concern over the development of relations between the UAE and Iran, in particular, as thousands of Israelis travel to the Emirates and are warmly received,” thus claiming that the presence of Iranians there could be dangerous.
He also revealed that "Israel" is closely monitoring the new path between Abu Dhabi and Tehran, considering that if the once shut doors between Iran and the UAE are opened, "everything could change for the worse."
Yedioth Ahronoth said that Sheikh Tahnoun, the second top Emirati figure after the UAE ruler, secretly visited "Israel" and met with former Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen, whom he also hosted more than once in the Emirates.
Yesterday, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE's National Security Advisor, hailed Iran as an important and powerful country in the region with a unique geopolitical position that connects the East to the West during a visit to Iran where he met with Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
The Gulf-Iranian rapprochement is not the only thing worrying “Israel”, which has been floundering since the resumption of the Vienna Talks on November 29, as it repeatedly expressed deep concern about the talks amid fears of Iran becoming a "nuclear state", which will adversely affect its strategic situation, according to Israeli officials.
This was confirmed by Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad in his visit to Tehran yesterday, during which he said that obstructing a nuclear agreement with Iran only serves "Israel".
