Iran consulate in Basra to reopen
Iraq-Iran, Politics, 5/1/2006

The Iranian consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra, 550km south of Baghdad, will be re-opened in the near future.

"Before ties were suspened with the former Iraqi regime in the 1980s Iran had a consulate in Basra. Iran will re-open it as soon as possible," Iran's Acting Charge d'Affaires to Iraq Hossein Zolanvar said here Monday.

He said Iran and Iraq had consulates in their border provinces before the suspension of diplomatic relations and eventual cutting of bilateral relations following the imposed war.

"Iran also had consulates in the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Basra before diplomatic ties with Baghdad were cut while Iraq also had consulates in the Iranian cities of Kermanshah and Khorramshahr." Zolanvar said the two countries plan to re-open their consulates in accordance with official agreements.

"Currently, Iran has a consulate in Karbala and Iraq also has a consulate which operates actively in (Iran's) Kermanshah." He said the Iranian government has an office in Basra with temporary authority under the Iraqi government to issue visas to Iraqi applicants to visit Iran but that the consulate has not been officially inaugurated.

Iran officially opened a consulate in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala in December 2005.

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