Iran, Canada diplomats hold talks in Tehran: Qassemi

EghtesadOnline: A delegation from Global Affairs Canada has traveled to Tehran and held talks with Iranian officials in the continuation of efforts to re-establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

News ID: ۷۷۹۹۴۰

23 October 2017

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday that the Canadian diplomatic team’s travel to Iran took place after it made an earlier visit to the Islamic Republic back in May.

“In continuation of the previous rounds of talks between the foreign ministries of Iran and Canada over the past two years, a delegation from Global Affairs Canada traveled to Tehran and held discussions with officials of our country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” PressTV quoted him as saying.

The sides exchanged views with a positive approach on technical and specialized issues, the Iranian spokesperson said.

He said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland also held talks on the sidelines of the 72nd annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.

The administration of former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper severed diplomatic ties with Iran in September 2012, citing, among other pretexts, what it described as continued threats from Iran to Israel.

Shortly after Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assumed office in November 2015, Canada lifted a number of sanctions on Iran, bringing Ottawa into line with several world powers that had agreed to do so under the landmark nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.