Iranian Royal wedding row ‘over’

26 May 2004

MADRID – The governments of Spain and Iran have resolved a spat over the invitation of two members of the ousted Iranian imperial family to last weekend’s royal wedding in Madrid, it was reported Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos said the issue was resolved after talks in the Spanish capital.

The row blew up after the Iranian government complained to the Spanish Embassy in Tehran about the presence of the late shah’s widow, Farah Diba, and son, Reza Pahlavi, at the wedding of Crown Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz.

During a joint press conference at the end of their meeting, Moratinos blamed the incident on “bad information” concerning “the character and status of those invited” to the wedding.

He confirmed that the relatives of the ousted Iranian shah were invited as private citizens, not as officials representing a government.

The Spanish foreign minister insisted “there was no crisis or incident” because of the disagreement and spoke only of “some confusion” that did not have to be discussed at the meeting.

Kharrazi said the explanations given by Moratinos and other diplomats were “clear” and “did not cause confusion”, adding that the regime of the shah, overthrown in 1979 by the Islamic revolution “is forgotten”.

He also added that relations between Iran and Spain “are good and will continue to be”.

Issues such as the situation in the Middle East, the conflict in Iraq and bilateral cooperation agreements were discussed at the meeting.

Before his meeting with Moratinos, Kharrazi held talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news