By: Mir M.Hosseini
The first
Persian embassy to Europe (1599-1602) was dispatched by
Shah Abbas 1st in 1599. The mission was to obtain an alliance against the
Ottoman Empire. These Persian efforts at rapprochement with Europe followed the Persian defeat against the Ottoman Empire in the Ottoman -
Safavid War 1578-1590.
Safavid king
Shah Hossein dispatched an embassy leaded by
Mohammad Reza Bey to
France in order to improve trade ties. The mission's arrival in Pairs on Feb, 7, 1715 was such a spectacle for the French. King of France,
Louis XIV received the Persian embassy in
Versailles on Feb, 19 and after long negotiations, a treaty was signed on Aug, 13, 1715.
As a result of the diplomatic mission, a permanent Persian consulate was established in
Marseille, the main French Mediterranean port for the trade with the East.
In
Paris, Mohammad Reza
Bey fell in love with a 17 year old girl and left her pregnant and his mission turned into a scandal. Such ethical fiasco became typical of the Safavid royal court at the verge of its fall.
By: Mir M.Hosseini
Germany officially acknowledged
Russian rights in northern
Iran in the
Potsdam Agreement signed on Aug, 19, 1911. However, there were some other items in the agreement that displeased
Britain:
-
Russia accepted not to support Britain against Germany.
- Russia supported construction of
Berlin-
Baghdad railway while Germans guaranteed not to connect it with Iran's railway without Russian approval.
There was a great pressure on
Edward Grey who masterminded the 1907 treaty with Russia that divided Iran between two spheres of influence to revise relations with Germany as Germans had entered an international competition that posed a threat to British interests. Grey who was afraid of Germans, was left with no choice but to risk a diplomatic maneuver. He sent a telegram to British ambassador in
Saint Petersburg giving the information that Britain planned to arrange a meeting at high level with Germany to revise relations addressing the fact that Russia and
France had both reached agreements with Germans in Potsdam and
Morocco respectively. This information was relayed to Russian authorities which forced them to revise their policies specially towards Iran where they were trying to reinstall
Mohammad Ali Shah against Britain's will.
After losing Russian support, Mohammad Ali
Shah accepted a yearly salary of 50,000 Tomans and leave the country forever. He left from
Astarabad on Feb, 9, 1912 and never returned again.
By: Mir M.Hosseini
(
FNA) -
Iran and
Oman staged their second joint naval exercise in the
Gulf of Oman as the two countries' senior military officials started their meeting in the Omani capital city of
Masqat.
Iranian navy fleet was dispatched to the Gulf of Oman to take part in the relief operations drills with Oman.
The Iranian navy displayed its military maneuver capabilities in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday morning.
The joint naval exercise came as the 9th session of Iran-Oman joint military committee is underway in Masqat.
Iran and Oman have expanded cooperation in a variety of areas such as economy and defense since Iran's President
Ahmadinejad took office in 2005.
Later in August 2010, Iran and Oman signed an agreement to further boost mutual cooperation in the field of defense.
The document was signed by visiting Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General
Ahmad Vahidi and his Omani counterpart Mr.
Badr bin Saud in a meeting in Masqat.
According to the document, the two sides agreed to expand and deepen defensive ties and stressed that such cooperation would help further boost lasting peace and security in the region.
The two countries also agreed on exchange of defense delegations and facilitated implementation of the agreements held by Iran-Oman military friendship committees.
They also agreed to pave the ground for holding joint military war games.
In December, the Iranian parliament approved a bill that allows
Tehran to implement an agreement on security cooperation and coordination with Oman.
