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Iran says UK in 'discussions' over paying decades-old debt

Iran's Ambassador to the US Mohsen Baharvand said a British delegation had discussed its imprisoned nationals during a recent visit to Tehran.

Iranian Ambassador to the UK Mohsen Baharvand, pictured here in Tehran on Oct. 19, 2020.
Iranian Ambassador to the UK Mohsen Baharvand, pictured here in Tehran on Oct. 19, 2020, is in talks with UK officials over that country's financial debt to Iran. — ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

British officials visited Iran last week to discuss ways of paying the United Kingdom’s decades-old debt to Iran, which Tehran’s envoy to London said is held up by US sanctions.

Iranian Ambassador to the UK Mohsen Baharvand told reporters in London on Friday that Iran had nearly reached an agreement on the debt with the British government this summer.

"We had a deal. We signed it. But two days after the signature of that deal, the UK government said they could not implement it because of US sanctions,” The Guardian quoted Baharvand as saying.

Baharvand said he is hopeful for an agreement and that the “obstacles are not insurmountable.”

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