The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet, UD) is cooperating with a freelance diplomat regarding contact with the Iranian regime. But Trump says “No Deal”.
– Yesterday I spoke with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran on the telephone, says the freelance diplomat Henrik Thune to Dagens Næringsliv.
He is cooperating with UD in order to establish contact with Iran.
Norway has had contact with persons high in the political leadership in Iran even after the outbreak of the war.
– Since we have worked with the Iran conflict for a long time, there is still contact, and the natural thing in this type of work is to listen to both sides, create a channel for communication, in order to see whether there is anything diplomatic to contribute.
Thune has been a so-called top diplomat for a number of years, and until 2024 he was State Secretary in the Labour Party (Ap) government.
– Two years ago I and a few colleagues in UD resumed contact with people in Iran, to see whether it was possible to initiate new negotiations on a nuclear agreement.
– The Americans were also interested in this, because they have lacked contacts in Iran.
It is presented as something positive that Norway ignores the ongoing war. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, speaks a different language, on his usual platform Truth Social.
– There will be no agreement with Iran except unconditional capitulation. After that and the election of fine and acceptable leaders we and many of our very brave allies and partners will work day and night to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction and make them economically greater, better and stronger than before.
– Iran will have a great future. Make Iran great again (MIGA).
Political leaders from the EU and the Middle East are to hold a video meeting on Monday regarding the war in the region, says a spokesperson for the Council of the European Union (EU-rådet), according to NTB.
– The exchange will provide an opportunity to hear the leaders’ assessments of the situation and discuss further support from the EU and the member states to countries in the region as well as ways of bringing the current conflict to an end, the spokesperson says in a statement on Friday.
The EU countries still believe that they have something to say in international matters.