A British Foreign Office statement said Nicholas Hopton, previously British Charge d’affaires in Tehran, has been upgraded to ambassador.
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Iran has appointed Hamid Baeedinejad, former director general for political and global affairs at Iran’s foreign ministry, as the new ambassador to London. He has served as the British ambassador to Yemen among other diplomatic roles. He was an ambassador to Qatar from 2013 to 2015.
With the conditions being ready for an upgrade in the diplomatic ties, Tehran and London made a decision to appoint ambassadors, the official added, but emphasized that such an upgrade would not translate into settlement of the whole problems.
The UK reopened its embassy in Tehran in August 2015 following nearly four years of closure as it was stormed by protesters during a demonstration against sanctions in 2011.
Baeidinejad worked as an expert on disarmament and represented Iran in several roles at the United Nations, including as ambassador between 2008 and 2011.
Mr Hammond last August became the first Foreign Secretary to visit the Iranian capital in almost 12 years.
Relations between Britain and Iran deteriorated in the early 2010s in the wake of new British sanctions against Iran. Britain’s Foreign Secretary Hammond attended a ceremony in Tehran to mark the reopening on August 23.
“This is an important moment in the relationship between the United Kingdom and Iran”, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said.
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The reopening came weeks after Iran sealed a historic deal with six world powers aimed at curbing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
