Aftenposten – He wasn’t along on the trip, but the president of Norway’s Parliament, Thorbjorn Jagland, now thinks the parliament’s foreign affairs committee should not have visited Iran last month.
Jagland’s criticism is surprising, not least because the committee is headed by a fellow Labour Party politician, Olav Akselsen. Jagland also criticized Norway’s foreign policy towards Iran, even though that’s guided by another Labour Party politician, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store.
Jagland, a former foreign minister himself, didn’t name any names in his critical commentary in Thursday’s edition of newspaper Aftenposten, but he strongly suggested that Norway’s policy towards Iran hasn’t been well thought out.
Politicians in Norway "haven’t consciously sat down and discussed our policies towards Iran," Jagland claimed.
He noted that Norwegian politicians opposed stoning in meetings in Iran, but then it took place anyway. That, Jagland said, "shows that we haven’t had any effective influence."
Jagland claimed he did not support the foreign affairs committee’s application for funding for its trip to Iran last month, and worries that Norway’s "strong economic interests in Iran" (mostly through state oil company Statoil’s business in Iran) make its foreign policy towards Iran "problematic." Jagland noted that he also opposed the previous government’s decision to send a trade delegation to Iran, right when the EU and the US were pressuring the Iranians to halt their nuclear development program.
He stressed that he’s not in favor of isolating Iran, but believes the international community needs to "stand together" in an effort to hinder Iran’s "destructive" path.
Members of Parliament from Norway’s Progress Party were the only politicians to boycott the trip to Iran, to protest Iran’s policies. Jagland admitted he agrees with the stand taken by the Progress Party, which usually is his own party’s arch rival .
Jagland’s criticism of Norway’s relations with Iran is also shared by Inge Lonning of the Conservatives. He told Aftenposten, though, that he thinks Statoil’s activities in Iran are much more problemactic than last month’s visit by the foreign affairs committee.
