Ties between the UK and Iran have been fully restored with the appointment of ambassadors to both countries, following a five-year strain in relations. This comes after the success of the nuclear deal and the subsequent lifting of economic sanctions on Iran.
Despite Nicholas Hopton taking his ambassadorial seat in Tehran and Hamid Baeidinejad doing so in London, a significant layer of mistrust toward the UK still remains in the leadership in Iran.
Last June, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a speech that, “It is a huge mistake to trust evil Britain and the Great Satan (the United States).”
Relations between Iran and the UK have been stormy for decades – even Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
During the reign of Iran’s Shah Reza Pahlavi, Britain became feared and hated among many Iranians for its opposition to the country’s oil nationalization under Iran’s famous Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq, whose downfall in 1953 was, at least partially, brought about by British and American intelligence.
Britain closed its embassy in Iran following the tumultuous Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah and brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power.
Ties would not be restored until 1988 when the British embassy in Iran was reopened. However the restoration would not last long. Shortly thereafter, in February 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious decree) urging Muslims to kill the novelist Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses.
This resulted in ties breaking down since riots were instigated in Britain against the novel and publishers were killed. Khomeini died later in 1989, but his fatwa remained in place.
Another slight thaw in relations would occur in 1991 when Terry Waite, a British hostage held by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon for nearly five years, was released. Iran was believed to have played an important role in getting their Lebanese proxy to release Waite.
Relations would take another dive the following year when Tehran expelled a diplomat. Britain responded in kind. Later, it expelled another three Iranians (two of them embassy officials and the other a student) for allegedly plotting to kill Rushdie.
It wasn’t until September 1998 that ties were restored when Iran said it would no longer carry out its fatwa against Rushdie, or encourage Muslims to murder him. The following year, London and Tehran exchanged ambassadors for the first time since the revolution.
Less than a fortnight after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC, the UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was the first British foreign secretary to visit Tehran since 1979. Britain and Iran hoped to work together against a common enemy, the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
Shortly thereafter, in February 2002, Iran rejected the new UK ambassador, David Reddaway, who was denounced in Iranian newspapers as “a Jew and a member of MI6 (British intelligence).” Reddaway had previously served in Iran in the 1970s and early 1990s.
After US and British insistence, Iran agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear facilities late in 2003, denying US and UK concerns that it was planning to build a nuclear weapon.
In 2004, angry Iranians demonstrated outside the British embassy in Tehran, in response to fighting in Iraq, where British and US forces clashed with Shiite militias near Shiite holy cities.
Tensions would increase further in June when Britain, along with France and Germany, drafted an IAEA resolution criticizing Iran for not cooperating sufficiently with the nuclear inspections. The very same month, eight British sailors were detained for three days after they reportedly entered Iranian waters near the Iraqi border.
A similar, but more serious incident, transpired when Iran detained 15 members of Britain’s Royal Navy in March 2007, after they too allegedly entered Iranian waters. The personnel were released the following month.
When crowds of Iranians said the presidential re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of a rigged election in June 2009, and mounted countrywide demonstrations, Iran’s Supreme Leader said “arrogant powers” were encouraging those demonstrations. Khamenei singled out Britain when he said that the “most evil of these powers was Britain.”
In November 2010 when Iran arrested four people, the regime said they were terrorists with links to Britain. The Foreign Office responded by saying the accusation was “another in a long line of slurs against the United Kingdom from the government of Iran.”
Later that same month, British Chancellor George Osborne said financial sanctions were being imposed by Iran after the IAEA produced a report about Iran’s nuclear activity. Britain consequently severed all its ties with Iranian banks. Consequently, the Iranian parliament voted to expel the British ambassador and an Iranian mob stormed the British embassy in Tehran, damaging the building with petrol bombs and stones. Britain was “outraged” by the incident and gave Iranian diplomats in Britain 48 hours to leave the country.
It wasn’t until June 2014 that the then British Foreign Secretary William Hague signaled that Britain could reopen its embassy in Iran following an improvement in relations after the election of the more moderate and conciliatory Iranian President Hassan Rouhani the year before, and the beginning of an agreement over the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
After Iran and the world powers reached the nuclear agreement in July 2015, Britain reopened its embassy in Iran the following month and ties were fully restored on Monday, opening a new chapter in a historically complicated relationship.
Despite Nicholas Hopton taking his ambassadorial seat in Tehran and Hamid Baeidinejad doing so in London, a significant layer of mistrust toward the UK still remains in the leadership in Iran.
Last June, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a speech that, “It is a huge mistake to trust evil Britain and the Great Satan (the United States).”
Relations between Iran and the UK have been stormy for decades – even Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
During the reign of Iran’s Shah Reza Pahlavi, Britain became feared and hated among many Iranians for its opposition to the country’s oil nationalization under Iran’s famous Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq, whose downfall in 1953 was, at least partially, brought about by British and American intelligence.
Britain closed its embassy in Iran following the tumultuous Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah and brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power.
Ties would not be restored until 1988 when the British embassy in Iran was reopened. However the restoration would not last long. Shortly thereafter, in February 1989, Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious decree) urging Muslims to kill the novelist Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses.
This resulted in ties breaking down since riots were instigated in Britain against the novel and publishers were killed. Khomeini died later in 1989, but his fatwa remained in place.
Another slight thaw in relations would occur in 1991 when Terry Waite, a British hostage held by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon for nearly five years, was released. Iran was believed to have played an important role in getting their Lebanese proxy to release Waite.
Relations would take another dive the following year when Tehran expelled a diplomat. Britain responded in kind. Later, it expelled another three Iranians (two of them embassy officials and the other a student) for allegedly plotting to kill Rushdie.
It wasn’t until September 1998 that ties were restored when Iran said it would no longer carry out its fatwa against Rushdie, or encourage Muslims to murder him. The following year, London and Tehran exchanged ambassadors for the first time since the revolution.
Less than a fortnight after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC, the UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was the first British foreign secretary to visit Tehran since 1979. Britain and Iran hoped to work together against a common enemy, the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
Shortly thereafter, in February 2002, Iran rejected the new UK ambassador, David Reddaway, who was denounced in Iranian newspapers as “a Jew and a member of MI6 (British intelligence).” Reddaway had previously served in Iran in the 1970s and early 1990s.
After US and British insistence, Iran agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear facilities late in 2003, denying US and UK concerns that it was planning to build a nuclear weapon.
In 2004, angry Iranians demonstrated outside the British embassy in Tehran, in response to fighting in Iraq, where British and US forces clashed with Shiite militias near Shiite holy cities.
Tensions would increase further in June when Britain, along with France and Germany, drafted an IAEA resolution criticizing Iran for not cooperating sufficiently with the nuclear inspections. The very same month, eight British sailors were detained for three days after they reportedly entered Iranian waters near the Iraqi border.
A similar, but more serious incident, transpired when Iran detained 15 members of Britain’s Royal Navy in March 2007, after they too allegedly entered Iranian waters. The personnel were released the following month.
When crowds of Iranians said the presidential re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of a rigged election in June 2009, and mounted countrywide demonstrations, Iran’s Supreme Leader said “arrogant powers” were encouraging those demonstrations. Khamenei singled out Britain when he said that the “most evil of these powers was Britain.”
In November 2010 when Iran arrested four people, the regime said they were terrorists with links to Britain. The Foreign Office responded by saying the accusation was “another in a long line of slurs against the United Kingdom from the government of Iran.”
Later that same month, British Chancellor George Osborne said financial sanctions were being imposed by Iran after the IAEA produced a report about Iran’s nuclear activity. Britain consequently severed all its ties with Iranian banks. Consequently, the Iranian parliament voted to expel the British ambassador and an Iranian mob stormed the British embassy in Tehran, damaging the building with petrol bombs and stones. Britain was “outraged” by the incident and gave Iranian diplomats in Britain 48 hours to leave the country.
It wasn’t until June 2014 that the then British Foreign Secretary William Hague signaled that Britain could reopen its embassy in Iran following an improvement in relations after the election of the more moderate and conciliatory Iranian President Hassan Rouhani the year before, and the beginning of an agreement over the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
After Iran and the world powers reached the nuclear agreement in July 2015, Britain reopened its embassy in Iran the following month and ties were fully restored on Monday, opening a new chapter in a historically complicated relationship.
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