Iran's non-resident chargé d’affaires arrives in Britain

Iran’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires in the UK Mohammad Hassan Habibollahzadeh arrived in London at the head of a consular delegation in the early hours of Wednesday. The Iranian diplomat is to discuss rendering better consular services to the Iranian nationals residing in Britain as well as promotion of level of consular services both in terms of quality and quantity with British officials. During his six-day visit to London, the Iranian envoy is slated also to review Tehran-London relations with the officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as well as other relevant bodies. Early in December in his first trip to Britain, Habibollahzadeh entered London and headed for the Embassy in Kensington to inspect the consular services rendered to the Iranians living in Britain. Also in December, the British non-resident Charge d' Affaires Ajay Sharma who had traveled to Iran for an official visit expressed pleasure in his talks with his Iranian counterpart Habibollahzadeh and other officials in Tehran. Sharma's visit was the first British diplomat to travel to the country since ties were severed in 2011. "I had a good first visit back to Tehran and want to thank the Iranian authorities, particularly my counterpart Habibollahzadeh, for facilitating the trip," Sharma said in a statement issued by the UK Foreign Office. "I held detailed and constructive discussions with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about taking forward our bilateral relationship on a step-by-step and reciprocal basis," he added. In October, Iran and Britain agreed to announce the names of their non-resident charges d’affaires. In a meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York City on September 23, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British counterpart William Hague discussed improvement of Tehran-London relations, Iran’s nuclear energy program as well as regional developments. On November 27, 2011, Iranian lawmakers voted by a large majority to downgrade diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom, in response to Britain's decision to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran over the allegation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program. Two days after the decision by the Iranian parliament, hundreds of Iranian students staged a protest outside the British Embassy in Tehran and pulled down the UK flag. On November 30, 2011, London cut off its ties with Tehran, withdrew its diplomatic staff from Iran and the Iranian Embassy in London was closed.