Tabnak – British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will visit Tehran on Monday to become the first Western top diplomat to visit the country after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Discussing the future of the nuclear deal, as well as regional and international issues will be on the agenda of his talks with the Iranian officials.
According to the reports, upon his arrival in Tehran, the top British diplomat will have a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. In his one day stay in Tehran, he will also hold talks with other high-ranking Iranian officials, including Secretary of National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.
Before heading to Tehran, Hunt touched upon the issue of the 2015 nuclear deal – officially known as the JCPOA – saying that the deal is contributing a lot to the stability in the Middle East and its survival needs a complete commitment of the all parties. According to him, while Iran stays committed to the JCPOA, Britain will respect the deal as well.
Hunt and Zarif had a phone call some two weeks ago, in which the British official underlined that his country and the other remaining parties of the JCPOA would stay committed to the deal. He also acknowledged that in order to continue economic cooperation with Iran, Europe’s Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) have to be implemented soon.
Hunt’s visit to Tehran comes just a week after his visits to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as well as the developments related to the murder of Saudi dissent journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi’s murder has led to an increasing pressures on London to revise its relations with Riyadh, especially in the field of arms sales.
The British officials has also recently declared that London is trying to end the devastating war in Yemen through the United Nations Security Council. It’s reported that London and Washington have already started to work on a draft resolution for stopping the Yemen war.
These developments, together with the pressure posed on Riyadh over the Khashoggi case, is an indication that the Middle East is on the verge of considerable developments, in which the role of Iran is expected to gain more significance.
In this vein, British officials have now and again expressed desire to initiate confidence-building measures with the Islamic Republic and to continue bilateral dialogue in this regard.
Tomorrow’s trip by the British foreign secretary should also be seen in light of the recent attempts by London to revive its role and influence in the Middle East. In this vein, Britain has established a military base in Bahrain, while reaching agreements with Muscat to establish another base in Oman. As such, it seems that in the diplomatic sphere also, London is trying to define an independent, influential role for itself in order to take further steps toward its aim of fully returning to the Middle East.
