The barrister for the Iranian researcher extradited from Australia in an apparent prisoner swap for two Perth bloggers has urged the Morrison government to use its diplomatic leverage to turn around deteriorating relations between the US and Iran.
Barrister Pouyan Afshar, who represented University of Queensland PhD student Reza Dehbashi Kivi said Australia “because of its diplomacy over the last few years has a cache of goodwill in Tehran”.
Mr Dehbashi Kivi returned to Iran on Saturday after being released by the Morrison government in an apparent exchange for the two Australian travellers, Mark Firkin and Jolie King, who had spent three months in a Tehran jail for allegedly flying a drone over a military precinct without a permit.
Mr Dehbashi was held by Australia in relation to allegations he had evaded US sanctions against Iran in 2008 by exporting American equipment for detecting stealth military equipment to the country.
The exchange has landed the Morrison government in the middle of diplomatic tensions between the US and Iran after President Donald Trump last year exited the nuclear deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program that had been struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015.
Mr Afshar, who consults for companies looking to do business in Iran, said unlike in other areas of international relations where Australia is a small player, it had influence in both Tehran and Washington.
Read the article by Nick Bonyhady and Eryk Bagshaw in The Sydney Morning Herald.