Ireland to press ahead with Iran embassy reopening despite 'longstanding' human rights concerns

"We need to have embassies in countries that we disagree with, as well as countries that we have very close relationships with," said Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney insisted  that opening the embassy is 'not a reward' for the Iranian regime. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The Government will press ahead with the reopening of Ireland's embassy in Tehran, despite "longstanding concerns" over the country's human rights record.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney announced the reopening of the embassy in the Iranian capital in 2021, which would see the facility reopen in 2023, some 12 years after it was shut.

However, the treatment of protesters in Iran has sparked calls from Government representatives to stop the reopening. Iranian women — and some men — have been protesting against the Iranian government’s severe restrictions on their daily life since late September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her arrest for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.

An Iranian woman protests 22-year-old Mahsa Amini's death after she was detained by the morality police in Tehran. Picture: AP

Speaking to The Irish Examiner on Friday, Mr Coveney said that opening the embassy is "not a reward".

"We are more than concerned at the increasing body of evidence now that Iran has supplied weapons to Russia that are now used to target civilians," he said. 

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"And let's be very clear; civilians are not a casualty of war by mistake in Ukraine. They are deliberately being targeted by Russia across Ukrainian cities. 

That is totally unacceptable and illegal, and needs to be called out. And if Iran is contributing to that by contributing weapons to those efforts, well then of course there needs to be a response and a consequence. 

"As regards the embassy, opening an embassy in a country is not a reward. We need to have embassies in countries that we disagree with, as well as countries that we have very close relationships with. So then we have a line of diplomatic communication to ensure that we can try to bring about change."

Objections within Fine Gael

At last week's Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, both senator Regina Doherty and Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan raised their objections to the reopening.

Ms Doherty told The Irish Examiner that the decision should be reversed.

"I gathered the decision to reopen was made many moons ago for other reasons, but I think what we've seen in the last number of months are major violations of human rights and of women's rights," she said.

"And really violent behaviour from a regime that's nothing but a dictatorship. 

And I can't see any reason why Ireland, as a progressive country that enshrines, or at least espouses to try and enshrine, human rights with dignity and respect, that we would want to do business with them."

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said that the embassy will reopen in 2023 as planned, but said that Ireland has concerns about the handling of the protests.

"In 2021, the Government decided to re-establish an Irish diplomatic presence in Iran in two phases," the spokesperson stated. 

"The first phase began in August 2021 with the appointment of a Chargé d’Affaires in Tehran, with the Irish diplomatic mission co-located in the German embassy in Tehran. The Irish embassy in Ankara remains accredited to Iran. 

"The second phase will involve the reopening of the embassy in Tehran in 2023, and planning is under way on this basis."