Canada's federal government is making plans to meet with officials from Iran in Ottawa to discuss prospects for resuming diplomatic relations severed six years ago, according to a media report.
Officials with Global Affairs Canada, which manages the North American country's diplomatic and consular relations, asserted their plans to host Iranian officials during a sit-down with their US counterparts in January, even as the US administration was reiterating plans to harden its line on Tehran, the Globe and Mail wrote on its website on Monday.
Talking points prepared for the meeting say that "at some point an Iranian delegation will likely come to Ottawa, but no timeline has been established."
The briefing materials note that "Canadian officials visited Tehran in May and October 2017 to discuss re-engagement and a range of regional and bilateral issues," the Toronto-based newspaper said.
Embassy Closure
Ottawa shut down its embassy in Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats in 2012, calling Iran "the biggest threat to global security" at the time.
The move came after the UK Embassy in the Iranian capital was stormed in 2011 in protest against new sanctions imposed by London and then closed. Britain reopened its embassy in 2015.
The office of Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland confirmed that there are still plans to invite representatives from the Iranian government, but a date has not yet been picked.
Major Sign
The potential meeting in Ottawa is the first major indication of a reset in relations with the Islamic Republic.
Canada has never publicly announced that it plans on hosting Iranian officials in the country, although it has twice sent Global Affairs officials to Iran.
Both of those visits occurred last year, marking the first real diplomatic interactions between Canada and Iran since 2012.
The talking points prepared for the Washington gathering, obtained by the Globe and Mail through Canada's Access to Information Act, break down the meeting into several themes, including suggestions for great multilateral cooperation—focused on involving Ottawa in efforts to monitor Iran's nuclear program—and Canada's re-engagement with Iran. One page of the documents released to the Globe pertains to commercial dealings with Iran.
Impediments
Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh, who is in charge of American affairs at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran, recently said the Ottawa government is willing to restore diplomatic relations with Tehran.
"The Canadians have expressed interest in resuming relations between the two countries. This interest has been expressed by the new Canadian government," he stated.
According to him, one of the biggest hurdles is the fact that Canada designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2012, which lifted the country's state immunity, opening the door for victims of alleged Iranian-sponsored terrorism in the US to sue Tehran for damages.
Normally, under international law, the courts of one state cannot allow legal action against another country.
