ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The UK government is in discussions about how to repay historic debt to Iran, Tehran's ambassador to London said on Friday, adding to comments made by the UK's foreign secretary earlier this week as the seventh round of negotiations to establish the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) continue in Vienna amid escalating tensions and talks of military intervention.
Iran is in talks with the British foreign office regarding the £400 million ($530 million) debt Britain owes the country over 1,500 tanks that were never delivered more than 40 years ago, Mohsen Baharvand, Iran’s ambassador to London, told reporters in the British capital on Friday, adding that a deal to repay the debt was established this summer, “but two days after the signature of that deal the UK government said they could not implement it because of US sanctions.”
Israel and the United States have been ramping up the pressure in recent days, holding discussions of possible military exercises to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities should talks to revive the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, fail.
President Joe Biden warned on Thursday that the US was preparing "additional measures" against Iran as expectations grow that talks on halting Tehran's nuclear program are set for failure, following former president Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the deal in May 2018, and the gradual re-imposition of sanctions.
As leaders continue their attempts to salvage the JCPOA between Iran and the US, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany, the UK’s foreign secretary outlined her foreign policy priorities and pledged to “work night and day to prevent the Iranian regime from ever getting a nuclear weapon” in a major speech at a Chatham House event in London on Wednesday.
In a question and answer session with the audience, Liz Truss was pressed on why the British government had still not paid the outstanding, legitimate £400 million debt and whether it could be used as a gesture of goodwill to the Iranians during ongoing attempts to resurrect the JCPOA.
The foreign secretary responded by accepting that the £400 million Britain owes Iran is a “legitimate debt”, and told the audience that the government “do want to pay this debt” and are indeed seeking to “resolve the issue.”
The debt has been repeatedly linked to the ongoing incarceration of UK-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, detained in Iran since April 2016, with her husband Richard Ratcliffe claiming his wife has been imprisoned as leverage over the debt and calling her case “a political game.”
“I’m also pressing for the return of our unfairly detained British nationals, including Nazanin,” the foreign secretary said.
Truss took the opportunity to stress again that this week’s talks in Vienna was their “last chance” to revive a nuclear deal, and she urged the country to sign up to the 2015 nuclear deal, saying it was in their interest to do so.
According to senior officials in the US treasury department, the Biden administration is looking to tighten the enforcement of sanctions against Iran, sending a delegation set to include the treasury’s foreign assets control head Andrea Gacki to the United Arab Emirates next week; a US ally and Iran’s second-largest trade partner.
CIA head William Burns said on Monday that the US does not have any evidence of an Iranian decision to weaponise its nuclear programme.
Speaking on the BBC Today Programme on Friday, former British ambassador to Iran Sir Richard Dalton warned that, if there was an attack on Iran there would be retaliation across the Middle East from Iran and its allies in the region, and the already dire situation would become “a great deal worse,” adding that the Israeli government must contemplate the balance of risks and advising a “less-for-less deal” seeking to reduce certain actions and release sanctions on Iran.
The BBC urged Iran to end its “mounting campaign of threats and intimidation against its journalists,” AFP reported on Friday, adding that staff from its Persian-language service have endured a decade of harassment and attacks, including asset freezes and arbitrary arrest of relatives.
Talks continued on Friday between Iran and the majority of the P5, with the US delegation set to arrive in Vienna for further nuclear discussions this weekend. Iran continues to refuse to negotiate directly with the US.
