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Iran - Australia Relations

Published 09 Nov 2016

Ebrahim Rahimpour, Iranian deputy minister for Asia and Oceania, visited Glover Cottages on 8 November 2016 to give an Iranian perspective on relations with Australia and the region. Among his party was Abdolhossein Vahaji, Iran’s ambassador to Australia.

Rahimpour observed that among the 70 countries he had visited, diversity and instability predominated. Unity was seldom possible – the European Union had tried it, but Britain was leaving. The Middle East was especially unstable: Daesh terrorised Iran, Syria and parts of Turkey. The Taliban had done much damage in Afghanistan.

Almost with a sense of relief, Rahimpour observed that Australia and its neighbourhood were an exception to this rule – Oceania was stable. Even so, in discussions he had had with foreign minister Julie Bishop, he had picked up her concern about security and terrorism, and he had shared his concerns on the subject with her. Security added another dimension to the discourse – as well as trade and sharing dry-land farming technologies. Nothing negative could be seen in the discourse, with the possible exception of different perspectives on refugees. Sixty thousand Iranians lived in Australia, adding immeasurably to the success of Australia’s multicultural policy. Among Australia’s best graduates were Persians.

From left:  Ebrahim Rahimpour, Richard Broinowski &  Ambassador Abdolhossein Vahaji - photo by Zia Khan

From left: Ebrahim Rahimpour, Richard Broinowski & Ambassador Abdolhossein Vahaji – photo by Zia Khan

During question time, Rahimpour was asked about the nuclear Joint Plan of Action of 14 July 2015: was Iran satisfied that the P5 and Germany had fulfilled their part of the deal in withdrawing sanctions? On the part of the Europeans, Russia and China, yes, he replied, but not on the part of the United States. Sanctions remained and new conditions for lifting them had been imposed.

India and Pakistan were in Rahimpour’s area of concern. Was Iran concerned about future conflict between them, even leading to a nuclear exchange? Yes, but it remained neutral between them, and would do what it could to broker peace.

Iran appeared from Australia to be somewhat isolated in the world. Did it have sister-city relations in other countries? Indeed, said Rahimpour, it did, in many countries around the globe.

Sharia law appeared pretty severe. Did Iran share sharia values with other countries or groups that imposed it? No, said Rahimpour:  sharia law was subject to different interpretations, and Iran’s were moderate and flexible. Extremes such as suicide bombings and other killings were not approved of in Iran, and accounts in some western media about Iran-sponsored terrorism were untrue. Iran’s general foreign policy was defensive. After an eight-year war in the 1980s with Iraq, which the Iraqis had begun, Tehran was not anxious to start another. Its policies were essentially defensive.

Asked was Iran in favour of granting the Kurds some kind of autonomy, Rahimpour said Iran already provided considerable right to its Kurdish population, including reserved seats in parliament and education in their language. Iran sought an autonomy that embraced Kurds in Turkey, Syria and even Iran. Precisely how this could be achieved depended on the eventual solution to the civil war in Syria.

Surrounded as it was by six nuclear weapons states (India, Pakistan, Israel, Russia, China and the US through its Seventh Fleet in the Persian Gulf), Iran has a substantial incentive to develop or acquire nuclear weapons of its own. How confident can the international community be that the JCPOA will not prove to be just a temporary impediment to Iran developing its own nuclear arsenal? Rahimpour repeated the standard assurances that Tehran had no intention of developing nuclear weapons, which were an abomination in the sight of God.

What is Iran’s attitude towards China’s Silk Road and its capacity to open old trading routes into and through Persia? Very positive, responded Rahimpour.  Iran, which shared a border with China, could only benefit from China’s commercial expansion into the Middle East.

 

Report prepared by Richard Broinowski