AJC: Swiss Visit Supports Fanatical Iranian Regime

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.