Ottawa names new ambassador to Iran
OTTAWA - Canada has appointed a new ambassador to Iran, a busy post that has entailed handling sensitive issues such as the torture-murder of a Montreal photojournalist and Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Veteran diplomat John Mundy will take over the post after a 30-year career at Foreign Affairs that has taken him to across south and central Asia and Europe.
Most recently, Mundy was Canada's consul general to Australia between 1999 and 2003. 
Mundy was active on the environment file during two public-service stints in Ottawa in recent years. He was seconded to Environment Canada as director-general of its Global Climate Affairs Office before returning to Foreign Affairs to serve as director of its environment and energy division.
Past foreign postings have taken him to the Philippines, South Korea, Pakistan and Brussels.
Mundy replaces Gordon Venner, who took over the post in November 2004 after what was a bleak period of bilateral relations between Tehran and Ottawa.
Canada withdrew Venner's predecessor in protest in July 2004 over Iran's handling of the death of Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. Iranian authorities arrested the Iranian-born Canadian citizen in July 2003 for taking pictures of a protest.
Venner was sent back to monitor the simmering nuclear standoff between Iran and the West. Iran says it wants to pursue a nuclear program to meet its energy needs but the West believes it will use the technology to create its own nuclear weapon.
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