Deputy FM: Improvement of Iran-Britain Relations on Right Path

(FNA)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi voiced satisfaction in the improving trend of Tehran-London ties.

"Normalization of Iran-UK relations, first, began with appointment of non-resident Chargés d'Affaires and then we reached a stage that Chargés d’Affaires became resident," Araqchi said on Sunday.

"In the next step, we started providing consular and visa services," he added.

However, Araqchi made it clear that upgrading the level of relations from Chargé d’Affaires to ambassador depends on the decision of the Iranian lawmakers.

Relations between Iran and Britain hit an all-time low in November 2011, when the two countries shut down their diplomatic missions around Britain's key role in the imposition of a new set of western sanctions against Iran and its repeated meddling with Iran's domestic affairs.

On November 27, 2011, Iranian lawmakers voted by a large majority to downgrade diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom, in response to Britain's decision to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran over the allegation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Two days after the decision by the Iranian parliament, hundreds of Iranian students staged a protest outside the British Embassy in Tehran and pulled down the UK flag.

On November 30, 2011, London cut off its ties with Tehran, withdrew its diplomatic staff from Iran and the Iranian Embassy in London was closed.

Iran recalled all its staff and closed its embassy in London the same day Britain recalled its diplomatic mission in Tehran due to massive protests in front of the British embassy complex by thousands of Iranian students who demanded a cut of ties with London.

The Iranian students' November 2011 protests at the British mission came after the Iranian legislators in an open session of the parliament the same month approved the bill of a law on downgrading relations with Britain. After the parliament approval, Iran expelled the British ambassador from Tehran.

The parliament approval came a week after the US and Britain targeted Iranian financial sectors with new punitive measures, including sanctions on Iran's Central Bank and petrochemical industry.

The sanction against CBI and Iran's petrochemical industry was adopted in a unilateral move by the US, Canada and Britain outside the UN Security Council as other council members, specially Russia and China, had earlier warned against any fresh punitive measure, including sanctions, against Iran.

Then in a meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York City on September 23, last year Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British counterpart discussed improvement of Tehran-London relations, Iran’s nuclear energy program as well as regional developments.

Following a set of talks between the two sides, Tehran and London eventually agreed to resume diplomatic relations and announced the names of their non-resident Chargés d’Affaires in October 2013.