Philip Hammond: we are not ‘blind’ to Iran’s faults

Philip Hammond is the first Foreign Secretary to visit Iran in over a decade as he returned to reopen the Britain’s embassy in Tehran yesterday. But what has prompted this change in government policy? On the Today programme, Hammond explained that Britain needs the influence of a ‘very important country’ in the region to help with the fight against the Islamic State:

‘We’re trying to develop cordial relations with what is a very important country in a volatile and difficult region. We’ve had a difficult history between Britain and Iran but following the nuclear deal and after a couple of years in which relationships have been getting steadily better, we want to try and move to the next phase.

‘The whole point here is we need to engage with Iran as a major player in the region in order to seek to influence it. If we don’t talk to the Iranians, if we stand off and simply shout at each other through megaphones, we will not be able to influence the development of Iranian policy.