Ireland watching events in Iran before ‘finalising’ decision on re-opening embassy

The Government is watching political developments in Iran very closely before “finalising” a decision about reopening an embassy there, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.

He was responding to former minister of state and Government backbencher John Paul Phelan, who urged the State not to do this, saying it would be “an appalling slap in the face” for citizens currently risking their lives protesting against the regime’s behaviour.

The Kilkenny Fine Gael TD said that if the Government is planning to open an embassy in the Islamic republic it should reconsider the move.

Ireland had an embassy in the capital Tehran that was closed in 2012 as part of cost-cutting measures.

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In March last year the Government announced it intended to reopen the embassy next year as part of a global strategy to double the State’s diplomatic footprint. A chargé d’affaires has been based in the German embassy in Tehran since then.

Mr Phelan said there have been 70 days of protest in Iran, which he said had become “revolution on the streets”, following the death on September 16th of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

She was “killed by the morality police of the Islamic republic who deemed her not to be wearing an appropriate hijab while she visited Tehran from her native city in the Kurdistan region of Iran,” Mr Phelan pointed out.

He said almost 500 people have already been killed, including more than 40 members of the media, while nearly 17,000 people have been arrested.

He warned that opening an embassy would amount to an insult to “the ordinary citizens of Iran who are currently risking their lives on a daily basis against what is one of the most vile and barbaric regimes anywhere in the world”.

Mr Coveney acknowledged that Mr Phelan felt strongly about the issue and said Ireland was “using every opportunity we can to raise our concerns directly with the Iranian government and also in multilateral forums in relation to what is currently happening in Iran”.

He acknowledged the “violent crackdown of protesters, the loss of life that we have seen over the past 70 days and the more than 40 children who have been killed during that crackdown in the context of the legitimate protests that have taken place”.

Ireland has co-sponsored the convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council on Thursday in Geneva to look at human rights abuses and the protests in Iran.

Mr Coveney added: “we are looking at the appropriateness of opening an embassy again next year. We had an embassy up to 2012. We are watching political developments in Iran very closely before finalising that decision.”