Norway has expelled an Iranian diplomat in a dispute that comes a week after Iran ordered a Norwegian diplomat to leave Tehran.

In a statement Wednesday, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry did not identify the diplomat, but characterized the expulsion as a strong reaction to a similar move by Tehran several weeks ago.

The dispute erupted last month, when Oslo granted asylum to Iran’s former counsel-general, Mohammed Reza Heydari.  The Iranian quit his post in January to protest Iran’s deadly crackdown on opposition demonstrators in the Islamic republic a month earlier.

Heydari went into hiding immediately after his resignation, saying he feared for his life. Go to VOA.

Cuba – Iran Foreign Relations

Uruguay – Iran Foreign Relations

Paraguay – Iran Foreign Relations

Guatemala – Iran Foreign Relations

Costa Rica – Iran Foreign Relations

Chile – Iran Foreign Relations

IND: My apologies for the late posting of this very interesting piece.

Iran’s proclaimed ambitions in Africa are particularly worrying for Israel, which once had a lot of friends on the continent and wants to keep the few that remain.

ARRIVING at the airport in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, you have a fair chance that the newish-looking taxi taking you into town will not be the usual French or Japanese model, but Iranian. And it will not have been imported, as most cars in Africa are, but assembled in nearby Thiès. From here, the first few hundred taxis have just come off the production line at an Iranian-built Khodro plant. They are tangible symbols of a new power in sub-Saharan Africa that has, for some, begun to cause ripples of concern.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s controversial president, is in the vanguard of Iran’s push. Two years ago in New York he said he saw “no limits to the expansion of [Iran’s] ties with African countries”. Last year Iran’s diplomats, generals and president criss-crossed the continent, signing a bewildering array of commercial, diplomatic and defence deals. By one tally, Iran conducted 20 ministerial or grander visits to Africa last year, reminiscent of the trade-and-aid whirlwind the Chinese brought to Africa in the mid-2000s.

The reason is not hard to fathom. Iran wants diplomatic support for its nuclear programme in parts of the world where governments are still biddable. In Latin America Iran’s president has already exploited anti-American sentiment in countries such as Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. In Africa, by contrast, where most countries have strong ties to the West, Iran has concentrated on strengthening Muslim allegiances with offers of oil and aid. Go to Economist.

In April 1953, defying the British, the Japanese petroleum tanker Nissho Maru left the port of Abadan in southern Iran, its hulls filled with crude oil. The owner of the tanker, Idemitsu, was one of only a handful of companies that dared buy Iranian oil in those days — two years earlier the Iranians had nationalized their oil industry, and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was fighting back.

The head of Idemitsu, a legendary industrialist named Sazo Idemitsu, did well — he paid the cash-strapped Iranians 30 percent less than market prices. But in standing by the Iranians he also gave Japan, just emerging from a devastating war and seven years of American occupation, a sense of pride. Though Idemitsu was rebuked by his own government, his action was highly popular in both countries.

In a small former warehouse in the port city of Moji, on the island of Kyushu where Idemitsu was born, the company bearing his name has a display showing, among other things, photos and film footage of the Nissho Maru incident. Among them are black and white images of Iranians cheering as they see the tanker off in Abadan and beaming Japanese greeting its arrival with great fanfare in Japan.

…The time has come for Japan to use its prestige with the Iranians to search for a peaceful resolution to Iran’s internal turmoil. Tokyo should do so in the understanding that the nuclear issue swirling around Tehran is, at least in part, an attempt by the regime to contain its domestic problems. To deal with one without addressing the other is self-defeating. Go to NY Times.

The stability of the [IND: Persian] Gulf is further threatened by the deepening international crisis over Iran’s insistence on continuing its illicit nuclear programme. Just how the West intends to respond to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s intransigence is being hotly debated among the world’s leading powers. At the very least, Iran can expect further sanctions, which will further increase the regime’s international isolation.

In the past, Iran has responded to such pressure by activating the proxy militia groups that it has established throughout the Middle East, including the Gulf. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have been particularly active in Bahrain, where the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifah dynasty presides over a population that is predominantly Shia Muslim. They have backed numerous plots to overthrow the ruling family and establish an Iranian-style Islamic government on the island, which provides the main Gulf base for the US Fifth Fleet.

Even today, some officials blame Iranian meddling for the anti-government riots that take place almost every week in Bahrain’s Shia slums. The security forces are particularly concerned about the presence in London of leading dissidents, whom they accuse of encouraging the unrest through internet message boards.

Add to this Iran’s deliberate intimidation tactics, which include regular tests of medium-range missiles designed to attack its smaller neighbours in the Gulf. Bahrain and its neighbours have demonstrated a remarkable resilience and resourcefulness in tackling the region’s financial crisis. But they will need similar fortitude to withstand the very different challenges the future is almost certain to bring. Go to Telegraph.

The previously unannounced tour came one day after Mubarak met with Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani during the latter’s visit to Cairo on Sunday.

During Larijani’s visit, the first talks between top Egyptian and Iranian officials in over a year, Larijani handed Mubarak a message from the Iranian leadership. Egyptian sources said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was seeking to end tensions between his country and Egypt.

“The message is offering a new Iranian approach to resolve outstanding issues,” said an anonymous source, following Larijani’s talks with Mubarak.

Also read this piece from the Telegraph ion the same topic. Go to LA Times.

With signs of growing international support for pressure on Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lashed out at Tehran and the Revolutionary Guard military corps Friday, calling the country “the major supporter, promoter and exporter of terrorism in the world today.”

Clinton, responding to a question from a Latin American audience at the State Department about growing Iranian influence in Latin America, said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “is increasing its control over the country because of the elections which were a stark example of the abuse of human rights in action.” Go to CNN.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Americans are at the top of Iran’s list of enemies and the British are the most dreadful of those enemies. Go to VOA.

An East-West clash over a Swiss referendum last week banning the construction of mosque minarets heated up today as Iran’s foreign minister warned of unspecified “consequences” if the ban were enforced.

Manouchehr Mottaki spoke on the phone with his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey. Switzerland and Iran generally have good relations. The Swiss serve as Washington’s representative in the Iranian capital in the absence of formal relations between America and the Islamic Republic, giving them exalted status in Tehran’s diplomatic circles.

But Mottaki had harsh words for Switzerland, saying enforcement of the ban on new minarets was “against the prestige of a country which claims to be an advocate of democracy and human rights” and would “damage Switzerland’s image as a pioneer of respecting human rights among Muslims’ public opinion,” according to a report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA. Go to LA Times.

Ali Ansari, director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at St. Andrews University in Scotland, says Iran’s influence has “slipped very badly.” “Arab states have been lapping it up…. It has had tremendously damaging consequences for [Iran]. In the Persian Gulf, people were genuinely shocked – they never thought that the Iranian regime would treat its own people this way. They thought their governments [would] do that, but this is a revolutionary government. They suddenly realized it is no different.” Go to ABC News.

Beset in recent months by the bloody spectacle of regime enforcers stamping out pro-democracy protests, and by dozens of deaths, torture, and allegations of rape in secret prisons, Iran is losing influence among some of its friends in the region and stiffening opposition among foes. Go to CS Monitor.

Ever isolated by the United States and its European allies, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is increasingly forging ties in Latin America, and not just with fervently anti-American leaders such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Go to Washington Post.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in Venezuela on the third leg of his tour of South America to boost ties.

He is set to sign business and industrial accords with his close ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Mr Chavez, who has said he wants to develop nuclear energy, has backed Iran’s right to a nuclear programme. Go to BBC.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued his three-nation tour of Latin America on Tuesday, signing accords with Bolivian President Evo Morales and pledging mutual cooperation. Go to CNN.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s coming trip to Brazil is spurring criticism of the country in Washington, souring a budding U.S.-Brazilian relationship that appeared to promise a period of unprecedented cooperation in Latin America.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s planned reception of Mr. Ahmadinejad on Monday undercuts U.S. and European efforts to pressure Iran to curtail its nuclear program, boosting his stature at a critical moment in the talks, experts say. Go to WSJ.