Australian foreign minister’s visit expected to open new door on Iran

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop arrives on a rare visit to Tehran this week with two important messages for Iranian leaders: take back thousands of your failed asylum seekers from Australia and stop interfering in Yemen.

Her other mission is reportedly to open a dialogue with Iran, following a recent nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington that eases decades of Western economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic, allowing Iran to shed some of the pariah status heaped by the US and its closest allies.

Bishop will become the first senior Australian official to visit since her former counterpart Alexander Downer went to Tehran for talks in 2003. Iran has remained so isolated from the West that the last senior Western official to visit over the last decade was UN High Representative Catherine Ashton, who visited a year ago.

Australia’s most immediate concern is that Iran agrees to take back thousands of citizens, the vast majority of whom arrived on rickety asylum boats over the years, and who have been denied refugee protection.

According to figures released last week, there are nearly 7,000 Iranian boat arrivals in Australia, out of which 270 have been refused visas and others are waiting in queue.

Many of the inmates at Australia’s tense and overcrowded Manus island detention center are reportedly Iranians, living in conditions that Amnesty International decries as inhumane.

In addition to Manus, more than 20 percent of asylum seekers reportedly held in mainland immigration detention centers are also Iranians.

Iran has so far refused to accept any failed asylum seekers, and Australia’s Green party has expressed concern about the safety of those returned forcefully.

Asylum seekers, some waiting for years without any indication of when their papers could be processed, live in desperate conditions on Manus, where mass hunger strikes and clashes with guards are common. Last week detained Iranian Saeed Hassanloo – who came close to death -- ended an extended hunger strike in protest at having his refugee claim refused.

Many Iranian asylum seekers have endured up to four years in harsh detention. Last year, 23-year-old Iranian Reza Barati was killed during clashes inside Manus, where violence is reportedly common.

Besides Tehran, Bishop is expected to visit other Middle East capitals, including Riyadh. She arrives there at a time of escalating Saudi-Iranian tensions over Yemen, where Iran has been backing Shiite Houthi rebels against the government of president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi; he has been forced to flee to Riyadh.

On Sunday Bishop, who could play a mediating role between Tehran and Riyadh, added to international calls for a ceasefire in Yemen, where Australia stands behind Saudi and US policy.

“Australia recognizes the legitimacy of the government of President Hadi and calls upon the Houthis to return to the negotiating table,” Bishop said. “Political dialogue is the ultimate solution to the current crisis and all parties need to engage in negotiations in support of Yemen’s long-term stability,” she added.

In addition, Australia is concerned about its troops in Iraq, where Iran has played a large role in the fighting against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

When Bishop’s visit was announced months ago, it was welcomed by the United States. Washington needs a soft Western meditator that would be acceptable to Iran, following the recent nuclear deal signed by Tehran. Of all major US Western allies, Australia has kept the best diplomatic ties with Tehran.

“For Washington, the fact a close ally is sending such a senior minister will send another positive signal to Tehran about the benefits of serious engagement,” Australian academic Rodger Shanahan wrote in the Financial Review last month.

He noted the potential economic benefits to Australia of engaging with an oil-rich country hungry for Western goods and technology.

“There are of course valid reasons for Australia to take advantage of this moment to advance our interests with Iran,” Shanahan wrote. “It represents possibly the last large underdeveloped economic market that will be opened up in the next few years.”

For Iran, one of the key economic aims is to urge Australia to ease sanctions on Iranian petrochemicals. In addition to international sanctions Australia enforces its own embargo on trade with Tehran.