The British foreign secretary, William Hague, has called his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, to say that the UK is open to improving London-Tehran ties on "a step-by-step and reciprocal basis".
In his phone conversation with Iran's foreign minister earlier on Wednesday, Hague also raised the issue of Tehran's nuclear dossier which is the subject of an international dispute and talks over it is currently at stalemate.
"The Foreign Secretary reiterated the need for urgent progress to resolve the international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear programme," said a foreign office statement.
"He made clear that the UK was open to improvements in the bilateral relationship with Iran, on a step-by-step and reciprocal basis."
Iran-UK diplomatic relations has been downgraded since November 2011 when the British embassy in Tehran was stormed by a mob which triggered one of the worst crises in the bilateral ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Since then, the two countries do not have a diplomatic presence in the other's territory but bilateral ties have not been fully severed. In the absence of the embassies, Oman is hosting Iran's interest section in London, while Sweden acts for the UK in Tehran.
According to the foreign office's statement, Hague also mentioned that he will be willing to meet the Iranian foreign minister in New York in September at the time of the UN general assembly.
By the time, Salehi would likely be replaced with a new Iranian foreign minister as the recently-elected president, Hassan Rouhani, is expected to announce members of his cabinet next week. Mohammad Javaf Zarif, Iran's former ambassador to the UN, is tipped to replace Salehi.
British officials have been invited for Rouhani's inauguration ceremony, to be held on Sunday, but the UK snubbed the invitation to much criticism from the Labour party which said it was a missed opportunity.
In his call, Hague also told Salehi that the UK was concerned about the case of a dual Iranian-British citizen, Abbas Yazasanpanah Yazdi, who has mysteriously disappeared in Dubai.
