Yahoo – AFP,
June 17, 2014
Britain to reopen embassy in Tehran |
Sunni
militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group are moving
towards the Iraqi capital Baghdad after a week-long offensive which has seen
them make key gains including taking the second city of Mosul.
The British
embassy in Tehran closed nearly three years ago after it was stormed by a mob
angry at sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear programme.
"The
circumstances are right to reopen our embassy in Tehran. There are a range of
practical issues that we will need to resolve first," Hague said in a
written statement to parliament.
"However,
it is our intention to reopen the embassy in Tehran with a small initial
presence as soon as these practical arrangements have been made."
The move
came after historic foes Iran and the United States, which is considering drone
strikes in Iraq, briefly discussed the crisis on the sidelines of nuclear talks
in Vienna on Monday.
President
Barack Obama is sending up to 275 military personnel to Iraq to protect US
personnel and its embassy in Baghdad, while Washington has deployed an aircraft
carrier to the Gulf.
Officials
insist no combat troops will be sent back to the country. The last US fighting
forces left Iraq in 2011 following the 2003 invasion.
Key
player Iran
Hague's
statement to parliament's lower House of Commons did not directly mention the
situation in Iraq but noted that "Iran is an important country in a
volatile region".
He later
told MPs in person that Iran had historically played a "divisive and
sectarian" regional role but added: "We look to it to desist from
that and we will use the expansion of bilateral relations to press for
that."
Diplomatic
ties between Iran and Britain, the former colonial power, were strained long
before the closure of the embassy in 2011.
There have
been a string of major flare-ups in recent decades including over a fatwa
issued against British author Salman Rushdie by Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Khomeini in 1989 and the seizure of 15 British sailors by an Iranian naval
patrol in the northern Gulf in 2007.
Britain
appointed a non-resident charge d'affaires to Iran in November, restoring
direct diplomatic contacts severed in 2011.
Hague said
he took the decision to move towards re-opening the embassy after a phone call
with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday.
He added
there had "never been any doubt in my mind that we should have an embassy
in Tehran if circumstances allowed".
Hassan
Rouhani, the president of mainly Shiite Iran, last week said it may consider
cooperating with the US to fight Sunni extremists in Iraq.
Rouhani
took power last year amid hopes he would be more moderate and be more engaged
with the West than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
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