Zarif said Iran and Britain could resolve “differences through interaction and reaching a mutual understanding”.
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“Death to England” is scrawled in oddly tidy Farsi above a photograph of Queen Elizabeth on the wall of the 19th Century embassy in Tehran, testimony to the perception here that Britain is a perfidious intriguer in Iranian affairs.
Graffiti in the grand reception room (Reuters) “Our relationship has improved since 2011”.
“Today’s ceremony marks the end of one long journey, and the start of a new, and, I believe, exciting one”, Hammond said in Tehran, according to a Foreign Office news release.
Mr Hammond said the attack was a “low point” in relations but the election of Hassan Rouhani as president has seen links improve “step by step”.
While the thaw in relations between Iran and the West has been hailed by most countries in the world, the US’ Arab allies in the region and Israel are skeptical about it.
Hammond noted that “our embassies play an important role in maintaining” dialogue between Tehran and London.
Asked about the continued opposition to the nuclear deal voiced by many in Washington, Hammond said it was always understood the agreement would be received differently there than in Britain, France or Germany, where it has been widely welcomed.
This diplomatic decision comes on the heels of an Iranian nuclear deal involving six major world powers. But he added that he also expected to two nations to continue having their share of public disagreements.
Following the 2011 storming, which was a protest towards nuclear-related sanctions imposed by London, Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referred to as it an “evil embassy”.
The UK responded by closing the Iranian embassy in London later that month.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, shake hands on Sunday.
The U.S. embassy was sacked in the early days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 by students who feared a repeat of a 1953 coup, when the Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated the overthrow of Iran’s prime minister. He is the first British foreign secretary visiting Iran since 2003. In June past year, the then Foreign Secretary William Hague proposed the reopening of the embassy.
An Iranian street sweeper cleans in front of the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran, August 22, 2015.
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He led a ceremony in the embassy garden with Ajay Sharma, the new charge d’affaires who will represent Britain in Tehran, where the British flag was raised.
