Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 6 November 2014, Official Report, column 1034, on re-opening the British embassy in Tehran, what recent progress he has made on consular and embassy arrangements in Iran.

As I set out in the House on 6 November 2014, the Government remains committed to reopening the British Embassy in Tehran once we have resolved the outstanding steps required to bring the Embassy back to a functional level and concluded arrangements for re-establishing a visa service in Tehran. We are in ongoing discussion with the Iranian government to identify solutions on both issues.