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British embassy in Iran reopens British embassy in Iran reopens
(34 minutes later)
Britain’s embassy in Iran has reopened in a sign of the diplomatic thaw between the two nations four years after the building was shut when it was stormed by protesters. The UK’s foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has reopened the British embassy in Iran, declaring that there was no limit to what the two countries could achieve as mutual trust is restored.
Philip Hammond is in Tehran for a ceremony to mark the event in the first visit to the country by a British foreign secretary since 2003. Hammond watched the union flag being raised in the leafy embassy compound in central Tehran for the first time since it was stormed and ransacked by protesters in 2011.
The UK has had no diplomatic presence in Tehran since the British embassy was ransacked in 2011, but the election of Hassan Rouhani as president brought about a significant improvement in relations. Related: Iran-UK relations: 12 moments in a troubled history
Initially, the embassy will be headed by a charge d’affaires, Ajay Sharma, but Hammond said an agreement on upgrading to full ambassador status is expected to be reached in the coming months. Iran’s embassy in London is also reopening. Reflecting the cautious nature of the relationship with a long, troubled history, the Iranian government sent a relatively junior official, Abolghasem Delphi, the head of the western European department at the foreign ministry. He made no public comments.
The ceremony was attended by diplomats and representatives of the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs, and the foreign secretary raised the union flag. But Hammond is due to meet his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, later on Sunday, and the president, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday morning. Also on Sunday he was expected to visit Iran’s petroleum ministry, accompanied by a small group of British business figures.
Plans to reopen the embassy were announced by the government last year as relations between London and Tehran improved under Rouhani. Iran’s strategic position came under the international spotlight as the crisis over Islamic State grew in neighbouring Iraq. “We will not always agree but as confidence and trust grows, there should be no limit to what over time we can achieve together and no limit to our ability to discuss together the challenges we mutually face,” Hammond said.
Last month Iran struck a deal after a decade of negotiations with world powers over its nuclear programme, with some sanctions being lifted in return for allowing inspections. Later inside the embassy, the foreign secretary described the current relationship as “cordial”.
The Foreign Office later eased its advice against travelling to Iran, saying the risk faced by British nationals had changed in parts of the country. “We are exploring our way forward,” he told the Guardian. “The important thing is to distinguish between agreement to have a civilised dialogue and agreement to agree on everything. We clearly don’t agree on everything. We will have still have substantial differences of view on many areas of policy.”
Hammond and the Treasury minister, Damian Hinds, have travelled to Tehran with a small trade delegation, including representatives from the Institute of Directors, British Bankers’ Association, Amec Foster Wheeler, Shell Upstream International, Confederation of British Industry, the Weir Group and Benoy, to discuss opportunities following the nuclear agreement. He was speaking in the drawing room of the embassy residence, the doors of which were still scrawled with the graffitti saying “death to England”. The embassy, opened in 1876, is still awaiting specialists to restore it fully.
The foreign secretary said: “Four years on from an attack on the British embassy, I am today reopening it. The Iranians will simultaneously reopen their embassy in London. Our relationship has improved since 2011. 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 is the first British foreign secretary to visit Iran since Jack Straw 12 years ago. The bilateral relationship has been volatile since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with diplomatic relations being cut three times, immediately after the revolution, then after Ayotallah Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa against the writer Salman Rushdie, and then again as a result of the 2011 invasion of the two British embassy compounds.
“Reopening our embassies is a key step to improved bilateral relations. In the first instance, we will want to ensure that the nuclear agreement is a success, including by encouraging trade and investment once sanctions are lifted. Britain and Iran should also be ready to discuss the challenges we both face including terrorism, regional stability, the spread of Isil [Islamic State] in Syria and Iraq, counter-narcotics and migration. In the four years since that assault, the building has been looked after by Iranian caretakers. It has cost several million pounds to refurbish, a bill paid entirely by Britain. Hammond said Britain would file a compensation claim but would not let it get in the way of improving the relationship on other fronts.
“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 co-operation where we agree and to reduce our differences where we don’t. The storming of the embassy was denounced by the Iranian government, and even mildly criticised by the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, but although there were a few arrests on the day of the assault, there have been no prosecutions.
“Initially, the embassy will be led by a charge d’affaires with a small staff offering a limited range of consular services. Over the months ahead we expect to agree with the Iranians an upgrading of our respective mission leaders to full ambassador status and to be able to offer a full range of services.” The mob that forced its way into the main embassy enclosure and a second British compound in north Tehran included many members of the Basij militia which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Some of the protesters held aloft pictures of Qassem Suleimani, the head of the IRGC external wing.
Even before 2011, the embassy’s ability to function normally had been severely constrained under the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian staff in particular were constantly harassed, and any Iranians meeting British embassy staff would be subjected to interrogation by the security services.
The diplomats were ultimately forced to avoid contact with Iranians for fear of putting them at risk. The government of Rouhani, elected in 2013, was pledged that such harassment would stop.
Long before the events of 2011, the British embassy in Tehran was a flashpoint.
The building work alone – which took five years – was complicated by the architect’s decision to transport the roof and other materials, such as glass, from the UK.
Part of the roof was lost at sea in 1871, and two caravans of 367 camels transporting other materials were variously robbed by bandits and held to ransom by excise officials. Finally, a ship carrying glass and joinery caught fire at the port city of Bushehr. The building was finished in June 1876.
In 1906, the embassy played a key role in the uprising which led to the establishment of a parliament in Iran, when well over 10,000 Tehran people took refuge in the compound.
The Foreign Office history notes that Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt met in Tehran for the first time to discuss the progress of the war and the future of Europe, even though the bulk of the meetings were at the Soviet embassy.