Britain’s Hunt in Iran to discuss nuclear deal, Yemen, detainees
Britain’s Hunt in Iran to discuss nuclear deal, Yemen, detainees
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt discussed the future of the 2015 nuclear deal, the conflict in Yemen and other issues in meetings with Iranian authorities in Tehran on Monday, Iranian state media reported.
Hunt’s office also said that during the trip – his first to Iran as foreign minister – he would press Iran on its human rights record and call for the immediate release of detained British-Iranian dual nationals where there are humanitarian grounds to do so. Iranian media made no mention of this.
U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in May and Washington has reimposed sanctions on Iran to force Tehran to drop its ballistic missile programmes, further curb its nuclear work and limit its support for proxy militias from Syria to Lebanon and Yemen.
Other signatories of the deal – the European Union, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China – have been trying to salvage it. Iran has warned it could scrap the accord if the EU fails to preserve its economic benefits from U.S. pressure.
“The Europeans should accelerate their efforts to save the deal…We are ready for all scenarios, including a return to pre-deal era,” the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, told Hunt, Iranian state television reported.
Hunt said Britain was committed to the nuclear deal and discussed European efforts to maintain nuclear-related sanctions relief, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.
“The Iran nuclear deal remains a vital component of stability in the Middle East by eliminating the threat of a nuclearised Iran. It needs 100 percent compliance though to survive,” Hunt said in a statement ahead of the visit.
Read more: Reuters
Iran Briefing | News Press Focus on Human Rights Violation by IRGC, Iran Human Rights