History of Bilareal Relation

The historical backgrounds of political relationship between Iran and Norway dates back to 1905 AD. At the same time as the Swedish-Norwegian Union, was on the verge of extinction in 1905, first, the Iranian ambassador to Russia and then after the establishment of the Iranian Embassy in Stockholm in (1910), the ambassadors of Iran in Sweden, were accredited in Norway as well.

Finally On April 19, 1962, Iran's Embassy was inaugurated in Oslo City and direct diplomatic relations between the two countries was established.

Since 1962 and following the establishment of diplomatic relations ‎between the two countries, until 1979 and the victory of the Islamic ‎revolution , the bilateral political relationship between Iran and Norway ‎reached to the highest possible levels. In 1971, Olaf V, the ‎king of Norway,   paid an official visit to Iran, and in the same year and in response to ‎this visit, the king of Iran (Second Pahlavi) traveled to Norway for an official visit. During these 15 years, a few political delegations at the level of the ‎ministers, deputies and directors of the state department of the two ‎countries were exchanged.‎

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The political relations between Iran and Norway has experienced a few ups and downs in the four decades since ‎the triumph of Islamic Revolution.‎

However, the bilateral relations have always been based on the fundamental principle of mutual respect. In the last decade the diplomatic contacts between the two countries have been increasing, and the bilateral relations and the exchange of various political and economic delegations, especially following the nuclear deal (JCPOA) have accelerated. During this period, in addition to the reciprocal visits of the foreign ministers of the two countries, the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries also visited Tehran.

 Also, some senior officials of Islamic Republic of .Iran , including the head of the Environment Organization (June 2015), the vice president for family and women affairs (December 2016) and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization (2018) have traveled to Oslo. In recent years, there has been a continuous process of interaction between the foreign ministries of both countries regarding regional issues and crises. In addition, there have been telephone contacts between the two countries' foreign ministers and their deputies during the above period.

Talks between senior officials of both countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's annual meeting in New York have always been one of the highest-level contact mechanisms between the two sides. In this regard, meetings between the President of I.R of Iran Mr. Rouhani and the Prime Minister of Norway Ms. Solberg in 2019 September and also the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mr. Amir Abdolhian with the former Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Erickson Soride in September 2021 can be mentioned.

The holding of the annual meeting of political consultations has been another mechanism of cooperation between the two countries in the past years. So far, 9 rounds of political consultations have been held in Oslo and Tehran.

The two countries have also exchanged delegations in the field of parliamentary cooperation and relations. The visit of the Chairman and members of the Foreign Policy and Defense Committee of the Norwegian Parliament to Tehran in 2016 as well as the visit of members of the same committee of the Islamic Consultative ‎Assembly to Oslo in 2019, are among bilateral parliamentary cooperation in recent years.‎

 

 The former chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Norwegian Parliament and the former chairman of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also had a webinar contact in June 2021.

 

Holding joint meetings between the research institutes of Norway and the Islamic Republic of Iran and exchanging of views on issues of mutual concern and interest is another area of cooperation between the two countries. In addition to the travel of officials and experts from the two countries' research institutes and think tanks to participate in various meetings in Oslo and Tehran, there have been webinars on some topics between the research institutes of the two countries.

 

The Iranian Embassy in Oslo was established on April 20, 1942 by Abdolhossein Meftah. He was the ambassador of Iran to Norway until December 1964.

The list of other Iranian ambassadors until 2021 is as follows:

 - Abbas Farzanegan from 1964 1343 to 1968

- Ahmad Iqbal from August 1968 to November 1973

- Mohammad Behnam from December 1973 to June 1975

- Amir Arsalan Nayernouri from June 1975 to December 1976

- Shoa al-Din Shafa from January 1976 to March 1977

- Ali Kherdameh from March 1977 to the beginning of the Islamic Revolution

- Mohammad Pour gol from July 1989 to June 1994

- Abdul Rahim Govahi from June 1994 to October 1994

- Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi from January 1999 to August 2004

- Abdolreza Faraji Rad from December 2004 to November 2008

- Seyed Hossein Rezvani from June 2010 to April 2013

- Majid Nili from April 2013 to November 2016

- Mohammad Hassan Habibollahzadeh from December 2016 to October 2019

- Alireza Yousefi since March 2020

It should be noted that at intervals not mentioned, the embassy is run by a charged affair or a temporary agent.

The list of the Norwegian ambassadors to Tehran is as follows:

- Andre Tostrop Orbi, 1933

- Ralph Otto Underwood, 1942

- Hans Berg,

- Ernst Grog - Hans, 1950

- Ivar Land, 1956

- Ivar Land, 1960

- Kenneth Brucegard Aras, 1962

- Turlief Liebtrop Paus, 1966 (1344), Ambassador

- Niels Anton Jorgenson, 1970

- Kenneth Asura, 1975

- Tormud Peter Oswenwig, 1979

- Nikolai Alfred Fogner, 1983

- Brent Stingholm, 1985

- Ole Christian Holte, 2004

- Roald Ashtor Ness, 2008

- Jens Peter Shamprud, 2012

- Ms. Oude High School Noorheim, 2014

- Lars Nordrum, 2020-2017

-Seigwald Huge, 2020 ,current ambassador