Pompeo to visit Israel, UAE to discuss 'peace', Iran, China: Report

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly intends to visit the Israeli-occupied Palestine on Monday before traveling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to discuss the despotic Arab kingdom’s normalization deal with the Tel Aviv regime.

The agenda of the hawkish top US diplomat will also include discussions with officials of the two regimes perceived “security challenges” posed by Iran and China in the region, Reuters reported Saturday citing two sources “briefed” on Pompeo’s itinerary “who declined to be identified by name or nationality.”

The development came shortly after the chief of Israel’s infamous Mossad spy agency, Yossi Cohen, traveled to the UAE in the first high-profile visit by a senior Israeli official for what was described as “security talks.”

Israel’s Mossad chief visits UAE for ‘security’ talks after normalization pact

Director of Israel

During the visit, Cohen discussed cooperation “in the fields of security” with the UAE's National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, according to the country’s official WAM news agency.

“The two sides discussed prospects for cooperation in the fields of security as well as exchanged points of view on regional developments and on issues of common interest, including efforts to contain COVID-19,” the report said.

The tiny Persian Gulf state and the Tel Aviv regime reached a US-brokered normalization deal on August 13, designed to lead to full diplomatic ties amid angry condemnation of the move by all Palestinian leaders, who described the agreement as a “stab in the back” of the Palestinians by an Arab country.

The deal further drew strong reaction across the Middle East and most of the Muslim world, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, which deplored the accord as “treacherous.”  

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a telephone conversation with Secretary General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement Ziad al-Nakhala a day after the agreement that the “treacherous” deal between the Zionist regime and the UAE does not hinder the Palestinian resistance against the occupying regime.

Iranian FM says Israel-UAE ‘treacherous’ deal won't affect Palestinian resistance

The Iranian foreign minister says the Israel-UAE ‘treacherous’ deal will not affect the Palestinian resistance against Tel Aviv.

Zarif further underlined that the Washington-pushed deal would “certainly increase the hatred of the people of the region and Palestinians for such policies that are against the Palestinian cause.”

Shortly after the announcement of the Israel-UAE deal, the Islamic Jihad lambasting the move, emphasizing that it was a sign of submission of Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv without having any effect on reducing conflicts in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Iranian foreign minister also spoke with the leader of the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement, Ismail Haniyeh, who thanked Iran's leader and government for their persistent support of the Palestinian cause and said, “We will always continue the line of resistance and fight against the occupation, and we will not be affected by such treacherous acts, but we feel pain from this dagger that stabbed the Palestinian people from behind.”

This is while the American president described the agreement as a "HUGE breakthrough" in a tweet and further referred to it as a "historic peace agreement between our two GREAT friends." 

Pompeo at the time also described the normalization deal as an "enormous" step forward on the "right path" while the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted that deal marked "a historic day."

However, many observers believe that the Trump administration has pushed the UAE-Israel deal as a much-needed foreign policy achievement as the president’s re-election campaign is struggling to gain in the local polls that show him far behind his Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden just more than two months ahead of the November 3 elections.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir