Tuesday 29 March 2016

Rouhani postpones Austria visit ‘for security reasons’

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VIENNA: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has postponed for security reasons a planned visit to Austria this week, only his second to Europe since last year’s nuclear deal, Austria’s presidency said Tuesday.
“The visit for March 30-31 by President Hassan Rouhani and his delegation has been postponed by the Iranian side for security reasons,” it said in a statement.
The Iranian government’s official website confirmed the postponement, made “by mutual agreement,” but said nothing about security concerns. Neither Vienna nor Tehran gave a new date for a visit. A spokesman for the Austrian interior ministry, Karl-Heinz Grundboeck, said there were “no concrete indications of any security threats” in Vienna.
Rouhani had been due to meet Austrian President Heinz Fischer on Wednesday in Vienna and Chancellor Werner Faymann the following day, as well as attend an Austro-Iranian economic forum.
He visited Rome and Paris in January.
The 2013 election of Rouhani led to something of a rapprochement with the West which in turn helped Iran and major powers reach the mammoth nuclear deal in Vienna last July.

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