Britain for lifting US sanctions imposed on Libya, Iran

A spokesman for the British Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook will seek to convince the US to lift sanctions imposed on Libya and Iran during his visit to Washington on Wednesday and Thursday.

Reports quoted the spokesman as saying that Cook, being the representative of the European Union's Presidency, is hopeful that Britain would normalize its trade relations with the two countries with the exclusion of strategic commodities.

The spokesman added that, during his meeting with US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Cook will ask for the resumption of ordinary trade relations from London.

ArabicNews.com attempted to confirm this report with British embassy officials, three days ago, who expressed a lack of awareness of the issue, however a BBC report yesterday confirmed Cook's visit to the US to address US unilateral penalties over foreign trade with Iran, among other topics.