ABU DHABI, 14 May 2007 — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for an end to the presence of foreign troops in the Gulf during a visit to the United Arab Emirates yesterday.

The Iranian leader was greeted at Abu Dhabi International Airport by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan and Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE vice president and prime minister and the ruler of Dubai.

The two-day visit by Ahmadinejad, the first to the UAE by an Iranian head of state since the 1979 Islamic revolution, comes on the heels of a trip by US Vice President Dick Cheney, who warned that the United States will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

“With each other’s help, we can turn the Gulf into the gulf of peace and friendship,” the Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a meeting with Sheikh Khalifa at Al-Bateen Palace. “We all wish that foreign troops would leave the region and give a chance to countries in the region to establish security in the region themselves,” it quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

According to WAM news agency, Sheikh Khalifa and Ahmadinejad discussed several issues of bilateral interest. Sheikh Khalifa expressed the hope that the visit would further boost ties between the two countries in the interest of their peoples.

They reviewed ways to boost bilateral relations, particularly in the areas of economy and trade, in order to open wider avenues of joint cooperation.

Sheikh Khalifa reiterated UAE’s commitment to achieving a just, permanent and comprehensive peace, security and stability in the Middle East by getting rid of all the causes of the tension, particularly in the Gulf region. The UAE leader appeared to support a moderate approach to Iran’s standoff with the West. “The world community should consider in all its ... decisions the interests of all regional countries and their people to ensure their security, peace and continued development,” WAM quoted Sheikh Khalifa as saying.

Abu Dhabi and Tehran have full diplomatic ties and strong trade links despite a three-decade dispute over three strategic islands in the Gulf.