British Prime Minister David Cameron held talks with United Arab Emirates leaders yesterday as he kicked off a three-day Gulf visit aimed at boosting ties and selling jet fighters.

Cameron’s visit, which took him to both Dubai and UAE capital Abu Dhabi ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia today, came amid growing concern in the Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states about Shiite Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

In Dubai, Came on held talks with emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan.

They discussed “ways to strengthen ties of friendship and cooperation between the two friendly countries” as well as the regional political and security situation, the official WAM news agency said. Cameron’s office said the talks would address collaboration over next-generation aerospace equipment.

Cameron wants to push Britain’s defence industry and “specifically promote the Typhoon fast jet to Gulf leaders”, it said.

Cameron was to accompany senior UAE officials on an inspection of RAF Typhoons stationed at a UAE airbase as part of a training exercise.

The UAE has shown an interest in ordering up to 60 Typhoon Eurofighters to replace its ageing French Mirages, his office said.

Saudi Arabia is interested in a second “substantial” order on top of the 72 Typhoons it already has, and neighbouring Oman is in negotiations for 12 of the jets, it added.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a project which involves British defence giant BAE Systems and companies from Germany, Italy and Spain.

Trade between Britain and the UAE is worth £9.6 billion (€12 billion), according to a Dubai Government statement. Cameron told the BBC that his visit was not only focused on trade and investment.

“We’re also partners in defence and security. We worked together in Libya, we worked together in Afghanistan and we’ll be discussing all the key regional and global issues,” he said.

Britain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia had a “shared commitment to security and stability and defeating the threats we face in the wider Middle East region,” his office said.

The British Premier said it was vital that Iran allay suspicions that its nuclear programme is cover for a drive for a weapons capability.

The international community must “keep up the pressure, keep up sanctions and keep up the work to persuade Iran to take a different path,” he said. At a meeting with students at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University, Cameron criticised the failure of the United Nations to take stronger action against the Syrian regime.