Tehran, YJC. Jack Straw has said that he is optimistic about the Rouhani administration and would like to visit Tehran to help improve Iran-UK relations.
British
politician and former Prime Minister Jack Straw said to BBC Persian on Sunday that
he is hopeful that with Hassan Rouhani as Iran’s President, tensions between
the two countries lessen, expressing willingness to visit Tehran for talks to
that effect.
Jack
Straw said that after Rouhani's electoral victory, he has been able to send a
congratulation message to him via the Embassy of Oman as Iran and UK’s
embassies were down for unhealthy relations.
Straw
expressed his hopes that relations between the two countries grow and embassies
are reopened.
He said
that from his meetings with the former Iranian negotiator he knew Rouhani to
be- a prestigious politician who had a clear idea of matters under discussion
and always knew what he talked about.
He expressed
pity for not having reached a decent understanding with Iran during the Khatami
administration which, he believed, caused great problems for the country in the
8 years that followed.
Straw
also pointed to his visits to Tehran during the Khatami administration in the
wake of the 9/11 event and said that the reason for his first trip to Tehran
had been Khatami’s promise that Tehran would help the US and UK in fighting
Taliban.