Britain and Iran to reopen embassies as ties thaw

Britain and Iran will reopen their respective embassies in the coming days, an Iranian official said on Aug. 20, four years after their closure when protesters angry over nuclear sanctions stormed the UK mission in Tehran.

The official said Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who helped negotiate a historic deal between Iran and the West on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, "will travel Sunday [Aug. 23] to Iran for the reopening of the British embassy".
 
"At the same time" Tehran would reopen its embassy in London, the official told AFP, without providing a specific date.
 
The Foreign Office confirmed Hammond would be visiting Iran in the coming days but did not mention the reopening of the embassy.
 
Hammond would be the first British foreign secretary to visit Iran in more than a decade.
 
Several European officials have travelled to Tehran since July 14, when Iran struck the nuclear agreement with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
 
The accord, which ended a 13-year standoff, will see the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on Iran and has sparked a flurry of interest from countries seeking to re-connect with oil-rich Iran.
 
In November 2011, hundreds of Islamist demonstrators protesting against Western sanctions stormed and ransacked the British embassy in Tehran.
 
Britain ordered its embassy in Tehran closed after the assault and expelled Iranian diplomats from London.
         
During the assault on the British embassy four years ago, protesters tore down the Union Jack, ripped up pictures of Queen Elizabeth II, trashed embassy offices and set documents alight.
 
At the time Britain accused Iran of failing to protect the...