British Foreign Secretary Reopens Embassy in Tehran

Takht-e-Ravanchi says British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will attend the reopening of the British Embassy in Tehran on Sunday.

Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday his nation rejects the possibility of restoring the U.S. Embassy in Tehran anytime soon.

Britain had operated without an embassy since Iranian protesters stormed its two main diplomatic compounds in Tehran on November. 29, 2011.

A trade delegation will travel to Tehran with Mr Hammond and the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Damian Hinds to discuss possible future trade opportunities.

The Iranian Charge F’Affaire was then told to immediately close his embassy in Britain and depart with 17 other diplomats. They accused the country and its media, including the BBC, of fomenting unrest and encouraging rioters in Iran after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.

Some in Britain have complained that Iran did not foot the bill for repairing the embassy which so far has run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On February 14, 1989, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had “sentenced to death” the British novelist Salman Rushdie – who was living in London at the time – for his book The Satanic Verses.

After greater than a decade of casting the Islamic Republic as a rogue energy in search of to sow turmoil via the Center East, Britain has sought to enhance ties with Iran, whose confirmed pure fuel reserves are as huge as Russia’s.

Britain joins Germany and France in the race of business ties with Iran in the wake of the lifting of sanctions.

The thaw with Iran began with the June 2013 election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a reputed moderate who reached out to the West.

“Over the coming months, we will work to ensure that the nuclear agreement is a success, including by making sure that it is fully implemented by all sides”, Hammond said at the reopening.

“Our relations with the United States are different”, he said in response to a reporter’s question, adding that the Iranian people have “considerable concerns” over U.S. policies.

The embassy in Tehran will operate with a small staff and offer a limited range of consular services at first, Hammond said.

The British embassy was closed in 2011 after it was stormed by protesters during a demonstration against sanctions against Iran.

Relations between the United Kingdom and Iran deteriorated after after sanctions were imposed on the Islamist republic over its nuclear program.

The two countries will have to tackle the common challenges of the region including regional stability, terrorism, the spread of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, illegal drug trading and migration.

Asked if Tehran would now countenance a restoration of the US diplomatic mission, Javad Zarif said the United States’ “illogical attitude” towards Iran meant the time was not ripe for a similar move with Washington.