LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - Britain's export credit agency will initiate a review of Iran to assess creditworthiness after a nuclear deal was reached between world powers and Tehran, it said on Thursday.
UK Export Finance (UKEF), which provides guarantees to banks and insurance to support British exporters, suspended cover to Iran in 2012 after the imposition of tougher financial sanctions at that time.
UKEF said the nuclear deal was a welcome development, adding that the department was "considering what the agreement means for the lifting of existing sanctions".
"We will be initiating a review of Iran to assess creditworthiness, in light of the new agreement, and the expected positive effect on the Iranian economy," UKEF said in a statement to Reuters.
"UKEF has outstanding claims on Iran and we would expect these arrears to be regularised to a large degree before we would be in a position to restore full cover."
A spokeswoman said separately there was no specific timeframe for the review, declining to provide further details on the arrears.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; editing by Jason Neely)