Milan, Sept. 3 (LaPresse) – White House envoy Steve Witkoff met in Sardinia with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and brother of the Emirati president, to discuss coordination of a new economic offensive against Iran. Axios reported this. Tahnoon bin Zayed, deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, met Witkoff on the Italian island. The White House did not comment on the meeting. The talks took place a few days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced “Operation Economic Outcast”, a strategy aimed at cutting off all financial channels that allow Tehran to access economic resources. On the same day as the meeting, the US Treasury began disconnecting the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr from the US financial system because of their ties to Iran. The UAE recently decided to halt all commercial and financial transactions with Tehran, according to Axios under pressure from impending US secondary sanctions and Iranian attacks. On August 11, an Iranian delegation traveled to Abu Dhabi to request food aid and de-escalation. According to Axios, the Iranians also asked the UAE not to cooperate with US sanctions, but Abu Dhabi rejected the request. In the following days, as Iranian attacks on Emirati oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz intensified, the UAE reportedly decided to suspend all business with Iran. According to sources cited by Axios, Emirati officials stressed to Washington that any pressure campaign would have to involve all of Tehran’s major trading partners to be effective. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also instructed US embassies to submit a formal diplomatic request to the governments of host countries to immediately and systematically halt trade relations with Iran.
Iran, media: Witkoff meets UAE national security adviser in Sardinia
Milan, Sept. 3 (LaPresse) – White House envoy Steve Witkoff met in Sardinia with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser and brother of the Emirati president, to discuss coordination of a new economic offensive against Iran. Axios reported this. Tahnoon bin Zayed, deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, met Witkoff on the Italian island. The White House did not comment on the meeting. The talks took place a few days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced “Operation Economic Outcast”, a strategy aimed at cutting off all financial channels that allow Tehran to access economic resources. On the same day as the meeting, the US Treasury began disconnecting the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr from the US financial system because of their ties to Iran. The UAE recently decided to halt all commercial and financial transactions with Tehran, according to Axios under pressure from impending US secondary sanctions and Iranian attacks. On August 11, an Iranian delegation traveled to Abu Dhabi to request food aid and de-escalation. According to Axios, the Iranians also asked the UAE not to cooperate with US sanctions, but Abu Dhabi rejected the request. In the following days, as Iranian attacks on Emirati oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz intensified, the UAE reportedly decided to suspend all business with Iran. According to sources cited by Axios, Emirati officials stressed to Washington that any pressure campaign would have to involve all of Tehran’s major trading partners to be effective. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also instructed US embassies to submit a formal diplomatic request to the governments of host countries to immediately and systematically halt trade relations with Iran.