UK appoints ambassador to Iran

The UK has appointed an ambassador to Iran for the first time since 2011, as part of its aims for more productive co-operation. 

The Foreign Office announcement comes one year after the reopening of the British Embassy in Tehran. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said this is an important moment in the relationship between the UK and



Iran. 

Nicholas Hopton, a former British ambassador to Qatar and Yemen, will take up the role of ambassador. The British embassy in Tehran was closed after it was stormed and ransacked by protesters in November 2011.

The embassy was reopened in August 2015 by then-British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and the two countries resumed ties on Charge d'Affaires level.