THE IRANIAN AMBASSADOR has been presented with credentials, four months after the ceremony was postponed because of the suppression of protests in Iran.

Eshagh Alhabib presented his Letters of Credence to President Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin on Thursday.

In January, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the decision to delay the ceremony was taken after a “significant” number of Iranian demonstrators were killed and injured.

Protests sparked by the country’s ailing economy began in late December, and escalated into rallies opposing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his regime.

They continued despite the internet and telephone lines being cut off and thousands were killed and detained in a bloody crackdown by the Revolutionary Guard.

In February, the US commenced airstrikes on the country, killing Khamenei.

Speaking in January, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee said she didn’t think “it was appropriate” for the ceremony to proceed at the time.

“We’re appalled and I’m appalled by what’s happening in Iran, and I don’t think it was appropriate for that to proceed today,” she said.

“We need to keep diplomatic ties open, and we will, but I think it was the right thing to do today.”

Alhabib was accompanied at Thursday’s ceremony by his wife and the deputy head of mission at the Iranian embassy.

The ambassadors of Portugal and India presented their Letters of Credence to the president in the same ceremony which was also attended by Emer Higgins, a minister at the Department of Children, Disability and Equality., there they were met by an air corps guard of honour and a Defence Forces band.