UK eases ban on travel to Iran

The British Government has declared Iran a safe place for travel for its citizens after the nuclear deal between the P5+1 countries and Tehran.

US Congress began Monday a 60-day review of the agreement reached July 14 between Iran and the UN Security Council’s five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US – plus Germany.

“Our policy is to recommend against travel to an area when we judge that the risk is unacceptably high. We consider that continues to be the case for specific areas of Iran, notably along Iran’s borders with Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.

“But we believe that in other areas of Iran the risk to British nationals has changed, in part due to decreasing hostility under President Rouhani’s Government,” he added.

Hammond said that British citizens could contact with the Swedish or EU diplomatic missions in Tehran for consular services.

On July 17, British Prime Minister David Cameron told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that the UK wanted to reopen its embassy in Tehran.

“The prime minister made clear that he remained committed to re-opening the British embassy in Tehran and they agreed that foreign ministers should continue to work together to resolve the outstanding issues before this can happen,” said the spokesman.

The embassy was closed in 2011 after it was stormed by protesters.

Bilateral relations between Iran and Britain have improved since diplomatic relations were suspended in 2011. Back then, Iranian protesters had attacked the UK embassy in Iran and Britain responded by expelling Iranian diplomats.