US President Joe Biden is greeted by Prince Khaled al-Faisal al-Saud, Governor of Mecca, on his arrival in Saudi Arabia. Photo: Reuters/Saudi Press Agency

As US President Joe Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday on the final leg of a Middle Eastern tour that has placed Iran’s nuclear ambitions front and center, the United Arab Emirates, a key regional ally, delivered the unexpected announcement that it was breaking ranks by seeking a rapprochement with the Tehran regime.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, the UAE’s Environment Minister, Anwar Gargash, said that the Gulf nation was sending an ambassador to Iran as part of the process of “rebuilding bridges” with the Islamic Republic. The UAE was the first in a series of Arab countries to sign peace deals with Israel during the last three years, reaching a historic agreement — the Abraham Accords — in Aug. 2020. At the time, Iran vociferously condemned the agreement, terming it a “shameful” act of “strategic stupidity.”

On Friday, Gargash specifically rebuffed suggestions that the UAE would join a regional defensive alliance to counter Iran. “We are open to cooperation, but not cooperation targeting any other country in the region and I specifically mention Iran,” he said. “The UAE is not going to be a party to any group of countries that sees confrontation as a direction, but we do have serious issues with Iran with its regional politics.”

The UAE’s stance on Iran contrasted sharply with the fighting words of Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid during his meeting with Biden in Jerusalem. “Words will not stop them, diplomacy will not stop them,” Lapid said of the Iranians during a joint press conference. “The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear program the free world will use force.”

For his part, Biden acknowledged that denying Iran nuclear weapons is a vital security interest, reiterating that a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is the preferred course for the US.

Iranian leaders were in no mood to compromise as the president toured the region. In a statement on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian declared that Iran’s goal was to lift the punishing international sanctions imposed on the regime.

“Undoubtedly, the puppetry by the White House and Zionism in the region will make us more determined,” said Amirabdollahian.

In a separate set of remarks, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry insisted that the entire Arab and Islamic world was being pressured into accepting Israeli regional dominance.

“The target is not merely Iran, but [that] Arab and Islamic countries should constantly accept the superiority of the Zionist regime,” Nasser Kanaani said.

Biden landed in the Saudi capital Jeddah on Friday for meetings with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Biden has defended his decision to meet with the crown prince, whom the president had previously denounced for his role in the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

At his press conference with Lapid in Jerusalem, Biden said that the purpose of his visit to Saudi Arabia was to “promote US interests in a way that I think we have an opportunity to reassert our influence in the Middle East.”

Earlier on Friday, Biden met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The president expressed sympathy with the Palestinian predicament, telling Abbas that the US could “feel” their “grief and frustration.” Yet he made no concrete promises to the PA, even acknowledging that revived peace talks with Israel were not a realistic prospect.

“Even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the United States and my administration will not give up on bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis, both sides, closer together,” Biden pledged.

Reuters contributed reporting