Canadian ambassador to Iran expelled: Foreign Affairs

News in Brief-

December 3, 2007 - 21:52
By: Murray Brewster, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - Canada's ambassador to Iran has been ordered to leave the country, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said late Monday.
Bernier says the decision is entirely unjustifiable. "We stand behind our ambassador, who has performed his diplomatic duties with professionalism and dedication," the minister said in a statement.
The diplomatic slap came one day after the Iranian charge d'affaires expressed frustration that his country's overtures to Canada were being ignored by the Harper government.
Seyed Mahdi Mohebi said in an interview with The Canadian Press that he has twice asked for a resumption of high-level contacts up to the foreign minister level.
"It is one-sided love," Mohebi said in an interview conducted in Farsi. "Love should be mutual."
Bernier suggested that the explusion of John Mundy, who was recently appointed and yet to have his credentials accepted, was a tit-for-tat move by the government in Tehran.
Canada and Iran have tried to come to an agreement on an exchange of ambassadors for some time, but Canada's not willing to accept the candidates Tehran has proposed thus far.
"Unfortunately, we have as yet been unable to accept the candidates Tehran has submitted," said Bernier.
"We believe that the expulsion of our ambassador is an unfortunate and unjustified consequence of this situation. As always, Canada remains prepared to receive an Iranian ambassador provided a suitable candidate is presented."
Calls to the Iranian embassy were not returned Monday night, the country's foreign ministry Web site contained no reference to the explusion and it hasn't been mentioned by Iran's official news agency.
An official at Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, speaking anonymously, said that the two candidates proposed by the Iran thus far had been "student radicals" in the 1970s with possible links to the U.S. embassy hostage-taking, but offered no proof of the claim.
Iran-Canada relations have been frosty since former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor helped spirit Americans out of the U.S. embassy in 1980 before they could be taken hostage shortly after the Iranian revolution.
The diplomatic tussle has been going on behind the scenes for months, the official said.
The Foreign Affairs statement says Ottawa will continue to monitor the well-being of the other embassy staff in Tehran.
Bernier says the Canadian embassy in Iran will be now headed by the charge d'affaires.
Both countries will continue to maintain embassies in the respective capitals and conduct normal operations, according to the release.
Recently, Iran's supreme court ordered a review of the death of Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian photojournalist who tied in custody after being arrested outside of a Tehran prison in 2003.
Authorities said she died after falling ill. Her son believes she was tortured and raped before being killed.
Mohebi said he hoped a resolution of the case would lead to a warming of relations. He also hinted that Iran could help in what he called the pursuit of common interest in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, U.S., intelligence agencies concluded Sunday that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, but is still enriching uranium.
The National Intelligence Estimate is an about-face on Washington's previous statements and came amid an escalating warnings from the White House about Iran's intentions.
The report - a compilation of 16 U.S. spy agencies, says the covert Iranian nuclear weapons program was halted in the fall of 2003 under international pressure and hadn't resume by June 2007.
It estimates that continued uranium enrichment could for its civilian energy program could still see Tehran develop a bomb between 2010 and 2015.
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