Straw hopes Iran-Britain ties will improve under Rohani

TEHRAN,July 16(MNA) – Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has expressed optimism about the improvement of relations between Iran and Britain during the administration of Iran’s President-elect Hassan Rohani. Speaking to BBC Persian Service in an interview published on Monday, Straw also said that he planned to make a trip to Iran with the aim of improving bilateral ties. Straw held several meetings with Rohani when he was the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the country’s chief nuclear negotiator in the talks with Britain, France, and Germany between 2003 and 2005. Iran agreed to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment-related activities in 2004. The suspension ended after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005 and Rohani resigned. The former British foreign secretary also expressed hope that the two countries’ embassies would be reopened during the administration of Rohani, who will take office on August 3. Current British Foreign Secretary William Hague 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. In an interview with BBC English Service published on June 18, Straw, a Labour Party politician, said, “Mr. Rohani was courteous, engaging, very straightforward, with a nice smile playing on his lips.” “He was absolutely on top of his brief and seemed to have the confidence of the Iranian leadership.” “Rohani was plainly anxious to bring about a settlement of the long-running conflict between Iran and the West,” Straw said, referring to the fact that Iran and the West are at loggerheads over Tehran’s nuclear program, which Iran says is entirely peaceful but the West suspects may be a cover for developing nuclear weapons.