Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari announced that the visa section of British embassy in Tehran will resume its operation from Wednesday, more than four years after the relations between the two countries soured.
“According to an announcement by the British administration, and in line with the implementation of previous agreements between the two countries, the visa section of British embassy in Iran will resume its operation on Wednesday,” he noted on Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond announced in a post in his Twitter account that “UK Visas and Immigration today resumed visa service in Iran, as promised 6 months after reopening Embassy.”
In an announcement on the British administration’s website, it is said that “You can apply for a UK visa in Iran, at the UK Visas and Immigration Visa Application Center (VAC) in Tehran.”
Earlier in February, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British counterpart Hammond held a meeting in London, during which the two sides declared the visa sections of the two countries’ embassies will be reopened later this month.
After the 1.5-hour-long talks held on Friday morning, the two diplomats told reporters that visa issuance will be resumed within the next weeks, probably in late February.
Iran-Britain ties soured in 2011. On November 27, 2011, a large majority of Iranian lawmakers voted to downgrade diplomatic ties with Britain, following Britain’s decision to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran.
Later, angry Iranian students stormed the British embassy in Tehran and pulled down the European country’s flag.
Following the incident, Britain withdrew its diplomatic staff from Tehran on November 30 and asked Iran’s diplomatic delegation in London to leave within 48 hours.
The two countries made diplomatic efforts afterwards to amend ties. In August 2015, the British embassy in Iran reopened after a 4-year closure.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Hammond attended a ceremony in Tehran to mark the reopening on August 23. It was the first visit by a British foreign secretary to Iran since 2003.
Simultaneously, Iran’s embassy in London also reopened.
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