LONDON: Argentina expels the chargé d’affaires of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires. Mr. Mohsen Soltani Tehrani served there as the head of mission until this notice, dated Good Friday, April 3, 2026.
He and his personal staff are being offered arrangements for his departure during a 48-hour period to leave the country. This decision came after the Iranian foreign ministry made a statement that Argentina and its president supported attacks against Iran. You may wonder why we call it ‘Head of Mission’ instead of ‘ambassador’. An ambassador or high commissioner in certain cases is a personal representative of the head of state. He or she must hand over credentials to the head of state in the hosting country. That is possible when two countries have good diplomatic relationships. However, Argentina and Iran haven’t had such a positive relationship for the last 32 years. Their relationship is frozen.
The Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, backed by Iran, attacked the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992. The Hizbullah terrorist organisation also conducted the 1994 AMIA bombing. Iran also sponsors them. Since then, there has been no ambassador in Buenos Aires to begin with. Argentina didn’t want to welcome anyone with such a level of respect. Thus, there was an active embassy without an ambassador, which is a rare event. You may have consulates or honorary consulates. Sometimes you just see a representative office. However, it is extremely rare to have an embassy without an ambassador. So, that is the complex history of Iran’s diplomatic signature even as far as South America.
Usually Ambassador or High commissioner holds the highest rank and Consulate General and Consul follows. Then we can see honorary consuls. Head of Embassy or Head of Mission is a mid range embassy staff. They may have official capacity than some other ranks I mentioned earlier. But the order goes that way.
