NEW DELHI :

 

ADAY after holding a rare meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, IranianPresident Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday described it as a “good conversation” and said that both sides agreed to put the past behind. Pezeshkian held talks withKhaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit that was seen as some kind of ice-breaker between the two sides. “We had a good conversation with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and agreed to put the past behind us and look to the future,” Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to the Iranian embassy. Relations between the two countries came under severe strain after Iran targeted many US bases in the UAE in the last few months as part of its retaliation for the US attacks on Iranian installations.

 

The meeting assumed greater significance as it came two days ahead of talks between Iran and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Oman. The Iran-GCC meeting will take place on September 14 to discuss an agreement on transit through the Strait of Hormuz. It will be the first such meeting since the start of the West Asia conflict. Pezeshkian also said that he had held discussions with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “We also had discussions with the Presidents of Russia and China, which were mostly brief exchanges. A promising outlook for the expansion of economic cooperation is taking shape,” he said. Pezeshkian also said that the BRICS member nations have condemned attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and civilian infrastructure, stressing the need for restraint and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of West Asian countries.