Embassy reopenings to mend Iran-UK ties: British MP
News that the embassies of Iran and Britain are to reopen in the capitals of the two countries on Sunday has made headlines across the globe, with signs that the 10 Downing Street sees the development as a catalyst for ameliorating ties with the Tehran government.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is due in Tehran to formally attend the ceremony to reopen the UK embassy. The fact that the British diplomacy chief, the country’s most senior foreign policy official, is to attend the event in person bears testimony to how important the development is for the UK government.
Hammond will be Britain’s first top diplomat to visit Iran in nearly 14 years.
The reopening of the British embassy is seen as the biggest shift in the West's policy toward Iran following the nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - on July 14.
Richard Bacon, British MP and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Iran, told Iran’s official news agency IRNA that he was pleased to see the embassies are to restart work.
“I am very pleased that the embassies of our two countries are to be re-opened,” he told IRNA.
He expressed hope that the development would lead to a thaw in Tehran-London relations.
“This is a very important step in the full normalization of relations between Britain and the Islamic Republic of Iran; I hope that it will lead to wider co-operation across many different fields, including education, culture and commerce, for the mutual benefit of our two countries,” the lawmaker noted.
Bacon said that Britain and Iran have a shared interest in seeing peace in the Middle East, adding, “Iran has a particularly important strategic role to play in the region.”
Iran and Britain severed their diplomatic ties in November 2011. The British embassy was closed after hundreds of Iranian university students staged a protest, pulling down the UK flag and demanding the expulsion of the British ambassador.
Following the incident, Britain announced not only the withdrawal of its diplomatic staff from Tehran, but also the closure of the Iranian embassy in London.
In October 2013, Iran and Britain agreed to appoint non-resident chargés d’affaires as a first step toward resuming diplomatic ties.
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