Iran Fires Romania Envoy Over Visit by Ceausescu

Iran today fired its ambassador in Romania because he failed to avert an embarrassing visit to Tehran by Nicolae Ceausescu days before the dictator was overthrown.

The Foreign Ministry, fiercely criticized in the Iranian press for allowing the visit, issued a statement recognizing Romania’s new government, the National Salvation Front, Tehran Radio reported.

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry is certain that the two nations’ ties will remain, and that after the establishment of the popular government in Romania . . . relations will expand,” the statement said.

The radio, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp., said Iran’s Red Crescent Society is ready to send medical aid to Romania, where Ceausescu was executed Monday.

The official IRNA news agency said Ambassador Mohammad Jamshid Gowhari was dismissed for failing to give the Foreign Ministry an accurate picture of the situation in Romania before Ceausescu arrived in Iran on Dec. 18.

Gowhari was fired on the orders of Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, IRNA quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. He had completed all but the last three months of his assignment in Bucharest.

Several Iranian newspapers strongly criticized the Foreign Ministry for allowing Ceausescu to visit, saying Tehran’s revolutionary image would be harmed if it was friendly with governments that were hated by their own people.