As the six-month Austrian Presidency of the EU Council started on July 1, Vienna has made clear that it will follow the EU line as far as a large number of complex and challenging issues are concerned. The 28-member European bloc recently opposed the US’ move to isolate Iran at international level. The government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Vienna, too, has ignored the US push to curb countries’ imports of Iranian oil and extended an energy co-op agreement with the West Asian nation.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia confirmed the news a couple of days ago, saying that Tehran and Vienna extended their agreement on oil and energy co-operation. The minister, who visited the Central European country in the first week of July, told the press that the two nations also held talks on oil and gas-related issues. “Austria is after the export of gas to Europe through Iran and the Caspian Sea littoral states,” stressed Zamaninia.

Amir Hossein Zamaninia

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (too) visited Vienna on July 3 mainly to promote the (P5+1) nuclear deal’s survival after the withdrawal of the US. In the Austrian capital, he discussed other important bilateral issues with Chancellor Kurz. During their meeting, the Austrian chancellor asked President Rouhani to clarify his stand on the case of a Vienna-based Iranian diplomat who was allegedly involved in a plot to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in Europe. Just before President Rouhani’s arrival in Vienna, the Austrian officials announced that they would revoke the legal immunity of Vienna-based diplomat Assadollah Assadi. The police had detained Assadi on July 1 near the German city of Aschaffenburg on a European arrest warrant. The detention took place after a couple with Iranian roots was arrested in Belgium for carrying powerful explosives in their car. The Belgian authorities accused Assadi, also a counsellor at the Iranian Embassy, of being part of a plot to set off explosives at an annual rally of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq group in neighbouring France. Brussels further requested Vienna to extradite the Iranian diplomat.

President Rouhani with Chancellor Kurz

Meanwhile, senior officials of the two countries signed four co-operation documents in the presence of Chancellor Kurz and President Rouhani. Later, the visiting president held a separate meeting with Iranian expatriates in Austria.
Interestingly, President Rouhani didn’t mention the case while talking to the Austrian media. He only said that Iran and Austria decided to bolster ties and to implement some joint development projects in the coming days. It is to be noted that Austria has always maintained friendly ties with Iran. In February, Austria’s Oberbank announced that it would provide USD 248 million to finance the construction of Iran’s first nuclear hospital. Healthcare Global reported that the new facility would have 1,000 beds and world-class radiotherapy facilities.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das