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British Foreign Secretary Hails Iran Visit as "New Chapter"in Ties
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has sent a message to the Iranian people ahead of his upcoming visit to Tehran, highlighting his visit as a "new chapter" in bilateral ties, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
Straw, who is due in Tehran on Monday, will be the highest ranking British official to visit Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
However, IRNA did not say how the message was sent to Tehran.
Straw' visit was originally arranged in November, but it is brought forward after British Prime Minister Tony Blair had phone talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday on anti- terrorism cooperation following the September 11 attack in the United States.
Straw said in the message that the London-Tehran ties have been on an upswing in recent years, and expressed hope that the two countries can embark on closer cooperation on terrorism.
The sympathy and indignation shown by the Iranian people and government after the tragedy was a great solace to British citizens, he said.
"My visit is not only to exchange sympathies, but, is to find out to what extent Iran's experiences could be of assistance in the issues," he added.
Straw said that both Iran and Britain agree that terrorist attacks in U.S. would not result in clashes of civilization, pledging that Blair and leaders of other countries have made it clear that a war against terrorism "is in no way a war against Islam."
"My own constituency had 25,000 Muslims and 23 mosques and I am aware of the indignation shown by the majority of the world Muslims to the attacks on New York and Washington," he added.
The British foreign secretary said that the British government is determined to promote cooperation with Iran in combating narcotics trafficking from Afghanistan.
Britain's ties with Iran suffered a setback due to a religious decree issued by Iran in 1989 to call for the death of British writer Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy against Islam.
The Iranian-British relations have improved since Iran said in September 1998 that it would not seek to apply the decree.
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