British Embassy in Tehran to Resume Visa Issuance from Late February

On Friday, February 5, the foreign ministers of Iran and Britain announced in London that the visa issuance section at the British Embassy in Tehran will soon begin operations. Mohammad Javad Zarif and Philip Hammond had a brief meeting on the sidelines of the conference for Syrian refugees in London. After the meeting, Zarif stated in a joint press conference with Hammond that both sides have agreed to start issuing visas for ordinary citizens and regular passports in 'a few weeks.' The British Foreign Minister also mentioned that the visa issuance section of the embassy will be operational by 'the end of this month.' The British Embassy in Tehran was closed four years ago following an attack by Basij members and the destruction of some of its property, leading Britain to close the Iranian embassy in London as well. However, after the signing of the nuclear agreement in Vienna, the British embassy reopened in September this year with Philip Hammond's visit to Tehran. Nevertheless, the visa issuance section of the embassy has still refrained from providing services, forcing Iranian applicants to go to a third country for visa requests. According to IRNA, Zarif also discussed regional issues, the implementation of the JCPOA (nuclear agreement), banking cooperation, and economic relations between the two countries during his meeting with the British Foreign Minister. Following the EU's banking sanctions against Iran, the connection of Iranian banks to the secure international banking transaction system known as 'SWIFT' was cut off since March 2012. However, Valiollah Seif, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, announced that as of February 1, the issues of nine Iranian banks for reconnecting to SWIFT have been resolved, and these banks are now connected to this system. He added that, however, complete communication restoration will take a few days. According to this report, the British Foreign Minister stated regarding the resolution of the issue of Iranian banks' connections with British banks that he is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible in cooperation with his German, French, and Iranian counterparts, but noted that there are still outstanding issues. While relations are normalizing and sanctions are being lifted, 'banks must adhere to their legal requirements to resume cooperation.'