Britain ready to improve ties with Iran on a step-by-step basis: Hague

TEHRAN,July 13(MNA) – British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that London is ready to improve its relations with Tehran on a step-by-step basis. “We will also make every effort to persuade Iran to negotiate an end to the crisis over its nuclear program. We look to a new government in Iran to give a comprehensive response to the E3+3’s proposal for a confidence building measure and to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency. We will respond in good faith to positive action by Iran. We are ready to improve our relations on a step-by-step basis, but no one should doubt our resolve to prevent nuclear proliferation,” Hague told the British parliament on Wednesday. Iran has been engaged in talks with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany, which are known as the P5+1 group or the E3+3, to help resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, which Iran says is entirely peaceful but the West suspects may be geared to developing weapons. The British foreign secretary withdrew British diplomats and shuttered the Tehran embassy after it was attacked in 2011 by a mob, which he claimed had the backing of the government. Iranian diplomats in London were also expelled.