OTTAWA — While Montreal Professor Homa Hoodfar was still imprisoned in Iran, Canadian and Iranian officials held several meetings this summer to negotiate the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, according to a source close to the Foreign Ministry. Though impasses remain, some experts say Hoodfar’s release on Monday is a sign the Liberal government is making progress on a promise to reopen channels cut off when the previous Conservative government severed ties with Iran in 2012. Nader Hashemi, a Canadian professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Denver, said he thinks the timing of her release is not a coincidence. “I suspect that now the prospects of diplomatic relations are much better today than they were yesterday,” Hashemi said Monday. “Today’s news gives me cautious optimism I will be reunited with my four beautiful children soon.”• Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: amariedanielles

Source: National Post September 27, 2016 00:56 UTC