NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee is profoundly disappointed by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey's visit to Tehran today for the signing of a major gas deal between Swiss energy company EGL and the Iranian government.
"By their action, Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey and the Swiss government have strengthened the resolve of the Iranian regime to defy the international community," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. "Why should a prominent leader of a democratic nation travel to Iran at this moment in time, in the wake of a third UN Security Council sanctions resolution, to conduct business as usual with a regime that suppresses human rights, promotes terrorism, and seeks nuclear weapons capabilities? It defies logic."
According to news reports, the Swiss Foreign Ministry, unusually, did not announce Calmy-Rey's visit to Iran .
AJC, long supportive of diplomatic efforts to resolve Iran's intransigence, recently criticized the Swiss government for its role in enabling the UN Human Rights Council to condemn Israel with a one-sided resolution on Gaza. The resolution made no mention of rocket and terror attacks from Iranian-backed Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups. Switzerland was the only European country to support it.
SOURCE American Jewish Committee
