UAE Hails Iran's Softer Tone on Strait of Hormuz

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday welcomed Iran's softer tone on the key Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil passes, saying such attitudes "must prevail."

"I welcome the comments by my Iranian counterpart" Ali Akbar Salehi, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan told reporters.

"This is the kind of attitude that must prevail," he added at a joint news conference with visiting Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem.

Salehi denied on Thursday that Tehran had ever tried to close the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route threatened by escalating tensions between the Islamic republic and the West.

"Iran has never in its history tried to prevent, to put any obstacles in the way of this important maritime route," he told NTV television during a visit to Turkey.

Iran threatened in December to close the narrow waterway, a chokepoint for one fifth of the world's traded oil, in the event of a military strike or a severe tightening of international sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.

"All parties in the region are making efforts to reduce tension, as we do not want anything to affect stability" in the region, Sheikh Abdullah said.

The UAE is currently constructing a pipeline that would allow oil exports to bypass the key strait, at the mouth of the Gulf, and is due to be finished by June.

Abdessalem, meanwhile, stressed Tunisia's determination to forge stronger ties with Arab nations in the Gulf, saying that the case of deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali "would not be an obstacle to developing closer ties with our brothers in the Gulf."

Ben Ali took refuge in Saudi Arabia after being ousted last January. Tunisian justice officials say Riyadh has twice refused to extradite him.