The EU says it is “thinking” of lifting the ban, but surprisingly has not yet done so.
Earlier this month, EU officials announced they had lifted the ban on a one-time basis so that Salehi could travel to a security conference in Munich held earlier this month. Salehi, however, announced that he couldn’t attend the Munich conference anyway because of a prior commitment.
Before becoming foreign minister, Salehi was the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. Because of that position, the EU last year put Salehi on its list of Iranians barred from entering the EU because of their roles in Iran’s nuclear or missile programs.
Salehi is not on the UN list of banned travelers. The EU acted on its own initiative to bar entry to Salehi.
Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said she supported lifting the ban permanently, but the decision must be made at a meeting of all the EU’s 27 foreign ministers since it was they who imposed the ban last year. The EU foreign ministers met earlier this month but pointedly did not lift the ban at that time, suggesting there is considerable controversy and disagreement among then ministers.
The foreign ministers meet every month, so the ban could be lifted in March.
Ashton told reporters last week, “Dr. Salehi is foreign minister and the discussion going on is that normally foreign ministers are taken off the banned lists because generally you want to have an interlocutor, foreign minister, who is able to travel and visit. And for my part, I would be very keen to meet him, not least because of his role in the nuclear program.”
As a practical matter, the EU has very little diplomatic business to contract with the Islamic Republic beyond the discussions wrapped up in its meetings over the nuclear program—and those meetings are not handled by the foreign minister, but rather by the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, currently Saeed Jalili, who faces no EU travel ban.
Some foreign ministers may be arguing to keep the ban on Salehi to show the EU’s displeasure with Iran, especially since that will have no impact on the talks with Jalili.
One diplomat told Reuters, “It doesn’t send a very strong signal to the world when the EU is willing to lift the travel ban for someone who has played a key role in Iran’s nuclear weapons program from the beginning and is doing nothing to help achieve a negotiated solution.”
