Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hunt met his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, to exchange views on mutual relations and regional challenges.
The top British diplomat arrived in Tehran on Monday at the head of a political delegation for the first time since taking office.
The two ministers discussed various aspects of bilateral ties, including Europe’s proposed financial mechanism that is crucial to the progress of economic relations within the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s official website reported.
The mechanism is part of the European Union’s efforts to rescue the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, which has been unilaterally abandoned by the United States in May. It is aimed at protecting Iran against US-reimposed sanctions.
Hunt’s office said in a statement ahead of his visit that, during his meeting with Zarif, he would stress that the UK is committed to the nuclear deal as long as Iran sticks to its terms.
He was also set to update Zarif on the latest European efforts to maintain nuclear-related sanctions relief.
“The Iran nuclear deal remains a vital component of stability in the Middle East … It needs 100% compliance to survive,” Hunt said in the statement.
Hunt and Zarif also conferred on major regional issues, including the need to put an end to the devastating war in Yemen.
As part of its Middle East plans, the British foreign minister has vowed to push for new action at the United Nations Security Council to end hostilities in the impoverished Arab country.
“The UK will use all its influence to push for such an approach,” he had earlier said.
Yemen is locked in a nearly four-year-old war that has killed at least 15,000 people and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
