A trip to London this week by the Iranian foreign minister, the first such visit in 12 years, has been hailed as a “symbol of warming relations” in spite of decades of mistrust and ongoing differences on regional issues and human rights.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, the chief of Iran’s diplomatic apparatus, has gained international recognition for his role in securing last year’s landmark nuclear deal. He had to walk on a tightrope in London not to upset hardliners back home, who were scrutinising his every action and word.
Six decades after MI6 engineered a coup against Iran’s democratically elected prime minister to safeguard the UK’s oil interests in Iran, still unacknowledged by the British establishment, Britain, or “England” as it is mostly referred to in Iran, has a special place in the psyche of Iranian hardliners, who still think of it as “little Satan” or “the old fox” – cunning and sly.
The foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, met Zarif for breakfast on Friday, the day after Iran took part in a summit on Syria in London. He later tweeted that the visit was a symbol of warming relations.
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