Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will visit Iran in April to play a pivotal role in discussions on Sunni extremism and Islamic State. The last Australian foreign affairs minister to visit Tehran was Alexander Downer in 2003 and in the past 10 years only one western official has officially visited Iran.
Aside from the significance surrounding the fast emerging extremist threat the visit also holds significant economic potential for Australia including potential opportunity to reopen trade in grains, meat and other key areas.
The visit comes as a result of a direct invitation from Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Julie Bishop will also visit Baghdad and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The current Israel Netanyahu government is likely to find this development a challenge to its hard line stance against Iran - in particular its potential nuclear ambitions. For the United States however, the engagement between Iran and Austraila comes at a critical time as it seeks to reach an important nuclear agreement with Iran in the next few weeks.
Should relations between Iran and the west thaw on the back of this agreement, Julie Bishop's visit could place Australia in a front row position for new trade and security cooperation opportunities.
