October 25-2013
Oman will now represent Iran in Canada, though it wasn’t immediately known how extensive would be the consular services offered.
Canada broke relations with Iran just over a year ago and until now had refused to allow any other country to represent Iranian interests in Canada.
That meant Iranian citizens in Canada could not easily get passports renewed or register the births of their children.
Iran repeatedly said it was asking Canada to allow some other country to represent it in Canada, as Pakistan represents Iran in the United States. On Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced the two countries had agreed that Oman would represent Iran in Canada and Italy would represent Canada in Iran.
As of the Iran Times press deadline, Canada had made no announcement about any arrangements.
Press reports earlier this week said that an Islamic center in Toronto was acting as an unofficial consulate, accepting applications for such tasks as renewing passports and then flying the documents to Tehran or to Iran’s embassy in Havana to do the actual work.
The Foreign Ministry in Tehran also announced Tuesday that Iran and Britain would re-open their embassies within eight days with non-resident charges d’affaires.
It wasn’t clear what that meant. Apparently the embassies will open with local staffers—Iranians in Tehran and Britons in London—to handle business.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the non-resident charges d’affaires—agreed to earlier this month by the two countries—would make “regular visits” to the other countries’ capital.
The British Foreign Office had made no announcement before the Iran Times press deadline.
