IRNA - Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw believes that the improvement in banking relation with Iran has increased trade between the two countries.

In an interview with IRNA London and giving his assessment on bilateral relationship between Iran and Britain, Straw said, 'The British government position is different from that of Trump administration and our Prime Minister, Theresa May, made that clear when she visited President Trump very early in his administration.

The British government does support JCPOA and all that public statements and speeches by ministers and what is said on the government websites make that clear.
The British government is under pressure from the Americans and also there is a lobby here which includes the Saudis as well as the Israelis and the Emirates to try to ensure that Britain doesn�t get too far in its relations with Iran because of the regional rivalry across the Persian Gulf.

So that�s the situation. There have been significant improvements in the last twelve months on the trade and investment front and that is shown in the increase in recorded trade which is up by 42 percent which underestimate the real increase in trade because so much of trade involved in British firms is actually happening outside UK banking system. For example Airbus, significant proportion of what goes into any Airbus plane is made in the UK. But it would be registered in the statistics in France.'

Asked If pressure from the US increases on Iran, will the British government change its policy, Straw said, ' I don�t think Britain is going to change its fundamental policy and support for the JCPOA. The government has signed to this. Although the head of the conservative party changed, but Theresa May was a member of that cabinet.

The second most powerful person in the British cabinet is Philip Hammond who was foreign secretary, literally signed his own name. So I don�t think that they are going to change their policy.

The British government is concerned about some of Iran�s activities in the region, I am not saying whether I agree with this but I just saying this is a matter of fact particularly in Yemen. If it was possible to resolve the Yemen crisis, that would certainly help considerably.

What is the way forward for banking relatios when Iran has shown its commitment under JCPOA, but the banking ties has not yet been fully established? Straw said there are transactions taking place. With Iran there are lots of smoke and mirrors as we British say. Of course trade could not have increased by 42 percent in our case without there being significant improvements in banking relationship but the fundamental problem remains refusal of the big international banks to provide corresponding banks facilities because of the sanctions which were imposed on them in the past and they just seized up. So in my view the only answer is direct British government intervention. They got to grip this issue.

To a quection whether he claiming that the British are lacking their part under JCPOA, Straw said , 'No, that�s not what I am saying. The British government is doing its commitment to the JCPOA and the British government will say, well we are not bankers, we are government. But I am saying when we faced a problem which was somewhat similar towards Barclays refusing to provide banking facilities to a big British company - a science company - in that case the British government intervened and ensured that the company could continue. We need a similar approach by the British government.'

Asked how much the outcome of UK�s election impacts on its position towards JCPOA, former British foreign secretary siad,'I don�t think it is going to change. The opinion polls at the moment suggest that conservatives will win. If they do, then the existing policy will continue; if there were a non conservative government led by the Labour, then the JCPOA will certainly continue and it might be slightly easier to get some change on the banking front.'