Senior UAE officials have responded strongly to Iran’s criticism of Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh's campaign to become secretary general of the UN.
Ms Nusseibeh joined the race for the UN's top job last Wednesday after no clear front-runner emerged among eight other candidates. Her campaign has gathered support from a wider range of countries.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country's top negotiator in talks with the US, on Sunday questioned Ms Nusseibeh's agenda in a post on X.
Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, said discussion of Ms Nusseibeh's agenda was welcome but that Mr Ghalibaf's remarks “lack objectivity”. He said they also “overlook the fact that the United Nations was established to promote dialogue and resolve conflicts, not to entrench enmities and settle scores”.
Dr Gargash described Ms Nusseibeh as a professional figure known for bridging differences and prioritising diplomacy, and said this would naturally “provoke objections from some hardline voices”.
Dr Ali Al Nuaimi, chairman of the defence, interior and foreign affairs committee of the Federal National Council, accused Mr Ghalibaf of trying to lecture the UAE despite Iran's record of “exporting instability”.
“Lana Nusseibeh represents diplomacy, competence and the courage to build bridges. Your rhetoric represents the very destructive mentality that has brought so much suffering to our region,” Dr Al Nuaimi said in response.
“The Middle East deserves a future shaped by those who build peace, not those who thrive on conflict.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's second and final term will finish at the end of the year. Members of the Security Council have held several informal votes on a successor but no consensus has yet emerged.
Ms Nusseibeh has called for generational change and pledged to reform the UN with “clearer priorities” if she is elected. She would be the first woman to lead the UN and the second Arab after Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Appointed the UAE's ambassador to the UN in 2013, she previously held several positions in Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
