Key Takeaways
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran and Abu Dhabi both want to “turn the page” on recent tensions, signalling a thaw in Iran UAE ties at the BRICS summit.
- The remarks came on the sidelines of a BRICS gathering being hosted in India, with leaders including Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping also in attendance.
- Both Iran and the UAE joined BRICS as full members in 2024, making this reconciliation a genuine test of the bloc’s diplomatic muscle.
- The backdrop is the fallout from the 12-day Iran-Israel war in mid-2025, which rattled Gulf capitals, including Abu Dhabi, over spillover risk.
Iran’s president says Tehran and the UAE are ready to move past recent friction and rebuild ties — that’s the one-line story out of this week’s BRICS meeting in India. Masoud Pezeshkian made the comment on the margins of the summit, and it’s the clearest public signal yet that Iran UAE ties are heading somewhere warmer after a rough year. Confirmed detail first, context after — more will come as both sides put it on the record.
What Exactly Did Iran’s President Say?
Speaking to reporters and in bilateral huddles around the BRICS proceedings, Pezeshkian said both Tehran and Abu Dhabi were keen to “turn the page” — his phrase — on a period of strain between the two Gulf neighbours. He framed it as a mutual decision, not a one-sided olive branch, which matters diplomatically. When both capitals use similar language at the same summit, it usually means officials have already been talking behind the scenes for weeks.
Indian officials hosting the summit have leaned into this kind of sideline diplomacy all week, using bilateral pull-asides to nudge rival delegations toward at least a working conversation, even where full trust isn’t there yet.
Why Are Iran UAE Ties Strained In The First Place?
The short answer: the June 2025 Iran-Israel war. That 12-day conflict — missile strikes, air defence scrambles, and a nervous few weeks for every Gulf capital watching their airspace — left the UAE in an uncomfortable spot. Abu Dhabi sits a short flight from Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, hosts a huge Iranian trading diaspora in Dubai, and depends on regional stability for its shipping and finance ambitions. Any hint of renewed Iran-Israel hostilities is bad news for Emirati planners.
On top of the war fallout, there’s an older dispute that never fully went away: the three islands — Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb — which the UAE says Iran has occupied since 1971 and Iran insists are historically its own. That issue resurfaces at almost every Gulf Cooperation Council statement, and it’s the kind of sovereignty question that doesn’t get solved by a friendly summit photo. Still, leaders on both sides appear to be choosing pragmatism over grievance for now.
Why Is This Happening At A BRICS Summit?
This is the more interesting layer of the story. Iran and the UAE aren’t just two Gulf neighbours patching things up — they’re both fairly new members of BRICS, having formally joined the expanded bloc in January 2024 alongside Egypt, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia (which has stayed non-committal on full participation). That means every BRICS summit now doubles as a rare room where Tehran and Abu Dhabi’s delegations sit at the same table under a shared multilateral banner, rather than through the more transactional lens of Gulf-only forums.
For India, which is hosting and steering this year’s BRICS grouping agenda, a public reconciliation moment between two members is a genuine diplomatic win. New Delhi has energy and trade interests running through both Tehran and Abu Dhabi, and a calmer Gulf helps everyone’s oil bills.
Quick Comparison: Iran And The UAE In BRICS
| Factor | Iran | UAE |
| BRICS entry | January 2024 | January 2024 |
| Key BRICS interest | Sanctions relief, trade diversification | Trade hub status, investment access |
| Recent flashpoint | June 2025 war with Israel | Regional security spillover concerns |
| Longstanding dispute | Three islands sovereignty claim | Three islands sovereignty claim |
What Does India Get Out Of Brokering This?
India isn’t a neutral bystander here — it’s the host, and hosting always comes with soft leverage. New Delhi has deep energy ties with the UAE, a large expatriate workforce in the Emirates, and a careful, decades-old balancing act with Tehran over Chabahar port access, which India has invested in as a trade corridor bypassing Pakistan. A more stable Iran UAE relationship reduces the odds India gets caught between two partners it needs to stay friendly with simultaneously.
It’s also worth noting the optics around this summit haven’t been entirely smooth. Xi Jinping reportedly skipped a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the summit’s opening day, a detail that’s drawn more chatter in Indian media than any formal communique line. Whether that was scheduling or signalling, it’s a reminder that BRICS unity is still more aspiration than fact — which makes a genuine Iran-UAE thaw stand out as one of the summit’s few concrete deliverables.
What Happens Next?
Don’t expect a signed treaty or a joint statement resolving the islands dispute — that’s not how these things move. What’s more likely, going by how past Gulf reconciliations have played out, is a sequence: ambassador-level contacts resume or deepen, trade delegations restart stalled talks, and maybe a leader-level visit gets floated for later in the year. Iran UAE ties have swung between frost and functional cooperation before, so the realistic marker of success here is fewer public jabs and more quiet business as usual.
- Watch for a formal Iranian foreign ministry statement following up on Pezeshkian’s remarks.
- Watch for any UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs readout confirming the “turn the page” framing.
- Watch trade and shipping data out of Dubai and Bandar Abbas over the coming months for early signs of normalisation.
FAQ
What did Iran’s president actually say about the UAE?
Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran and the UAE both want to “turn the page” on recent tensions and move toward better Iran UAE ties, speaking on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in India.
Why were Iran and the UAE at odds recently?
Mainly fallout from the June 2025 Iran-Israel war, which raised regional security fears in the Gulf, layered on top of the older three-islands sovereignty dispute.
Are Iran and the UAE both BRICS members?
Yes. Both joined the expanded BRICS bloc in January 2024, which is partly why this reconciliation moment happened at a BRICS gathering rather than a Gulf-only forum.
Is this a formal peace deal?
No. It’s a diplomatic signal, not a signed agreement. Any concrete outcome — resumed trade talks, ambassador visits — would likely follow in the weeks and months after the summit.
Why does this matter for India?
India is hosting the summit and has strong ties with both Iran and the UAE, so calmer Iran UAE relations reduce pressure on New Delhi’s own balancing act in the Gulf.
Conclusion
For now, the headline is simple: better Iran UAE ties are on the table, said out loud at a BRICS summit rather than behind closed doors. The real test comes in the next few weeks, once ministries turn a leader’s soundbite into actual policy.