Aftenposten, November 5 – The Norwegian authorities do not want to play into the hands of Iranian interference concerning the meetings of the Stortinget (parliament) deputies.
Iranian ambassador Abdolreza Faraji Rad is unhappy at the Parliament welcoming opponents of the Iranian regime – notably the representatives of the National Council of the Resistance of Iran and the People’s Mojahedin.
Aftenposten, November 5 – The Norwegian authorities do not want to play into the hands of Iranian interference concerning the meetings of the Stortinget (parliament) deputies.
Iranian ambassador Abdolreza Faraji Rad is unhappy at the Parliament welcoming opponents of the Iranian regime – notably the representatives of the National Council of the Resistance of Iran and the People’s Mojahedin.
The Undersecretary of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Raymond Johansen asked: “Is it a threat or information when the ambassador says that if the Parliament welcomes the leader of the opposition, Maryam Rajavi, the relations between Norway and Iran would deteriorate?”
Question: Do you intend to summon the ambassador to demand an explanation?
R. Johansen: But what is he going to explain?
Much pressure
Johansen has a list of several cases showing that governments do not like Norwegian officials to get in touch with their opposition. “When someone from Chechnya comes, the Russians react. If we welcome someone from Tibet, the Chinese protest. And any meeting with Hamas is condemned by Israel. We take the ambassadors’ practices and ways of functioning into account, but we meet whoever we want.”
Johansen spoke to Olav Akselsen, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee, who met the Iranian Ambassador on Friday. Johansen told Aftenposten: “I do not think this meeting took a turn for the worse”.
On Friday, at the Parliament, many people wondered about the fact that the ambassador knew about Tuesday’s meeting between the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee and Maryam Rajavi, whereas the news had not yet been made public.
