The UAE crown prince’s younger brother has been in Tehran for the last 48 hours on a secret mission aiming to defuse the Gulf crisis, the Middle East Eye reported on Sunday.
A senior security source in the UAE told the London-based online news outlet that the visit by Tahnoun bin Zayed, who is the national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates, is the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the crisis broke out.
It comes amid multiple signs of the UAE following its own, softer line with Tehran, after four tankers were attacked off the Emirati port of Fujairah earlier this year, according to MEE.
The secret mission comes amid a flurry of backchannel attempts to get talks going between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Saudis have called on Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to pass messages to Tehran.
Since then, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has become involved in such mediating efforts and he paid a visit on Sunday to Tehran where he met top Iranian officials.
Source: Middle East Eye
