A new British ambassador in Tehran

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami received yesterday the new British ambassador to Tehran, who presented his official ratification papers to the Iranian president. The step is considered an indication of the end of more than ten years of tensions in relations between Iran and the U.K.

This step comes following the two countries' agreements in last May on raising diplomatic representation to the level of embassies.

Relations between the two countries reached their lowest level when the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a decree calling for the death of British writer Salman Rushdi 10 years ago, due to his book The Satanic Verses, which was deemed insulting to Islam.