British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday reopened his country’s embassy in Tehran in a long-awaited step signaling better relations four years after a mob stormed the compound, forcing its closure.
The Iranian embassy in London was also set to reopen yesterday.
“Four years on from an attack on the British embassy, I am today reopening it,” Hammond said in a prepared statement. “Our relationship has improved since 2011. [Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani’s election and last month’s nuclear agreement were important milestones. I believe that we have the potential to go much further.’’
Photo: Reuters
Terrorism, regional stability and the spread of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq are among the challenges Britain and Iran should be prepared to work together on, Hammond said.
“This move does not mean that we agree on everything, but it is right that Britain and Iran should have a presence in each other’s countries. The role of embassies is to build cooperation where we agree and to reduce our differences where we don’t,” he said.
Hammond’s trip comes five weeks after Britain and five other world powers struck a deal with Iran to end a 13-year dispute over the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear program.
He entered the embassy at noon and held a ceremony shortly afterwards in its garden with Ajay Sharma, the new charge d’affaires who will be Britain’s top diplomat in Tehran.
The two countries are expected to appoint ambassadors in the coming months.
Hammond was to later hold a press conference with Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was the lead negotiator in the nearly two years of talks that have ended Tehran’s isolation from the West.
“Arrived in #Tehran. First British Ministerial visit since 2003. Historic moment in UK-Iran relations,” Hammond tweeted.
European officials have been quick to visit Tehran since July 14, when the nuclear agreement with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US was announced in Vienna.
The deal will see the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on Iran, in exchange for curbs on its atomic activities.
The deal has sparked a flurry of interest from countries seeking to re-connect with the oil-rich Islamic republic, whose 78 million population is also seen as a largely untapped market for other industries.
The thaw between Britain and Iran began with the June 2013 presidential election victory of Rouhani, a moderate who reached out to the West.
“President Rouhani’s election and last month’s nuclear agreement were important milestones. I believe that we have the potential to go much further,” Hammond said before his arrival.
Following the 2011 embassy attack, Britain said it could not have happened without the tacit consent of the Iranian regime at the time. It erupted after Iran’s parliament voted to expel the British ambassador and reduce trade relations in retaliation for sanctions against Iran’s banking sector.
Students rampaged for hours through the diplomatic compound in downtown Tehran, tearing down the British flag, ripping up pictures of Queen Elizabeth II and trashing offices. Staff were seized by protesters.
Diplomatic relations were reduced to their lowest possible level, with Britain expelling Iran’s officials.
“Reopening our embassies is a key step to improved bilateral relations,” Hammond said.
Additional reporting by AP
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS