US President George W Bush arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sunday on the next leg of his Middle East tour after holding talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories and visiting Kuwait and Bahrain.
Bush was expected to deliver a speech at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, in which he would talk about Iran, the Lebanese crisis and the Mideast peace process, and call on the region to embrace democracy.
The president's regional tour comes as tension simmers with Tehran over a confrontation between Iranian boats and US warships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, further stoking the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.
" Iran was a threat, Iran is a threat to world peace," Bush said Thursday during his visit to Israel.
But Iran's Arab Gulf neighbours want the confrontation to ease despite their growing concerns over Tehran's increasing regional influence, especially in Lebanese and Palestinian affairs.
Acting on behalf of other Gulf Arab countries, Kuwait's minister of foreign affairs, is expected during a visit to Tehran Tuesday to press for restraint and a calmer approach to defuse the crisis between the US and Tehran.
Bolstering business ties with the prosperous UAE was to be another focus of Bush's talks in the Gulf country. ( Dpa )