Iran: London embassy banking woes

The Iranian embassy in London – which reopened in August 2015 after a gap of four years – has been unable to open a local bank account, in the latest evidence of UK banks’ continued unwillingness to deal with Iran, despite the lifting of most sanctions on the country in January 2016. Iranian ambassador Hamid Baeidinejad has been voicing his frustration about the situation. Baeidinejad told a conference in London on 2 November that the lack of a bank account was “really very strange… not explainable at all”. It was often the first topic his colleagues in Tehran raised when he spoke to them, added the ambassador, who took up his post in September.