ID :
196655
Sat, 07/23/2011 - 07:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/196655
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FM Urges Britain to Correct Wrong Policies towards Iran
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi deplored London's hostile policies towards Tehran, and called on the British government to reconsider its attitude towards Iran.
"The British government is well aware of Iran's significant role in the Middle East; and therefore, in order to establish ties with Tehran, it has no option but to reconsider its behavior toward the Islamic Republic," Salehi said on Thursday.
The Iranian foreign minister told the Islamic republic news agency that the current relationship between Tehran and London is not in satisfactory conditions, describing the "unacceptable" and "unjustified" behavior of the British statesmen regarding international developments as the main reason behind the low level of Tehran-London ties.
Salehi referred to the case of Nosratollah Tajik, an Iranian national arrested in the UK, and said that Britain can take a positive step in reconsidering its diplomatic ties with Iran by lifting the restrictions on Tajik.
The Iranian national, arrested in November 2006, is accused of allegedly trying to purchase night vision goggles for Iran from US mediators.
According to British media reports, undercover FBI agents who were acting as international military equipment dealers offered to sell Tajik night vision goggles valued over £50,000 while secretly filming him.
Tajik and his lawyers argue that the US agents planned to incriminate him from the beginning, as they were not following a legitimate lead.
In April 2008, the British High Court upheld a former ruling that Tajik should be sent to the US to face charges, forcing his legal team to launch an appeal.
The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran parliament has meanwhile drafted a bill to sever all diplomatic ties with Britain.
The parliamentary bill on downgrading or even severing ties with Britain was taken after London intensified its hostile stances against Iran in recent years.
On February 7, more than 30 Iranian legislators had signed the single-urgency for introducing the bill of the law on cutting political relations with Britain to the parliament and submitted the bill to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani for a final approval by all their colleagues.
The 35 Iranian lawmakers who signed the preliminary bill described London's direct and indirect interference in Iran's internal affairs, hostile remarks and stances of the British officials against Tehran, financial support for seditious acts in Iran, media propaganda and spying activities against Iran as their reasons for supporting and introducing the bill.
The bill which is awaiting a final approval by a majority of the MPs necessitates the government to drop all its political relations with Britain and concurrently file lawsuits at Iranian and international bodies over the financial and spiritual damages inflicted on Iran by the British government so far.
It also urges the government to inquire the parliament's view about the resumption of relations in case the British government apologizes and asks for resuming bilateral relations with Iran.
The bill has already received the approval of the National Security and Foreign Policy commission. Late in December, the commission submitted the bill to the parliament's presiding board for final discussions and approval by all parliament members.
The Iranian lawmakers initially started drafting a bill to downgrade ties with London after Britain's direct involvement in stirring post-election unrests in Iran in 2009, but they intensified and accelerated the move after British Envoy to Tehran Simon Gass criticized the human rights situation in Iran.
"Today, International Human Rights Day is highlighting the cases of those people around the world who stand up for the rights of others - the lawyers, journalists and NGO workers who place themselves at risk to defend their countrymen," Gass said in a memo published by the British Embassy in Tehran on December 9.
"Nowhere are they under greater threat than in Iran. Since last year human rights defenders have been harassed and imprisoned," Gass added.
Other lawmakers, including head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, had even earlier blasted the negative role of the British ambassador to Tehran, and asked the country's foreign ministry to expel him from Iran.
Following Britain's support for a group of wild demonstrators who disrespected Islamic sanctities and damaged private and public amenities and properties in Tehran on December 27, 2009, members of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission drafted bill of a law requiring the country's Foreign Ministry to cut relations with Britain.
The British government's blatant stance and repeated remarks in support of the last year unrests inside Iran and London's espionage operations and financial and media support for the opposition groups are among the reasons mentioned in the bill for cutting ties with Britain.
Iran has repeatedly accused the West of stoking post-election unrests, singling out Britain and the US for meddling. Tehran expelled two British diplomats and arrested a number of local staffs of the British embassy in Tehran after documents and evidence substantiated London's interfering role in stirring post-election riots in Iran.
In one of the court hearing sessions, British embassy's local staff in Tehran Hossein Rassam, who was charged with spying, admitted cultivating networks of contacts in the opposition movement using a £300,000 budget.
Rassam also confessed that the local staff of the embassy had attended protests against the June's presidential election results along with two British diplomats, named in court as Tom Burn and Paul Blemey, and that he had attended meetings with the defeated opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, alongside Burn.
"The British government is well aware of Iran's significant role in the Middle East; and therefore, in order to establish ties with Tehran, it has no option but to reconsider its behavior toward the Islamic Republic," Salehi said on Thursday.
The Iranian foreign minister told the Islamic republic news agency that the current relationship between Tehran and London is not in satisfactory conditions, describing the "unacceptable" and "unjustified" behavior of the British statesmen regarding international developments as the main reason behind the low level of Tehran-London ties.
Salehi referred to the case of Nosratollah Tajik, an Iranian national arrested in the UK, and said that Britain can take a positive step in reconsidering its diplomatic ties with Iran by lifting the restrictions on Tajik.
The Iranian national, arrested in November 2006, is accused of allegedly trying to purchase night vision goggles for Iran from US mediators.
According to British media reports, undercover FBI agents who were acting as international military equipment dealers offered to sell Tajik night vision goggles valued over £50,000 while secretly filming him.
Tajik and his lawyers argue that the US agents planned to incriminate him from the beginning, as they were not following a legitimate lead.
In April 2008, the British High Court upheld a former ruling that Tajik should be sent to the US to face charges, forcing his legal team to launch an appeal.
The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran parliament has meanwhile drafted a bill to sever all diplomatic ties with Britain.
The parliamentary bill on downgrading or even severing ties with Britain was taken after London intensified its hostile stances against Iran in recent years.
On February 7, more than 30 Iranian legislators had signed the single-urgency for introducing the bill of the law on cutting political relations with Britain to the parliament and submitted the bill to Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani for a final approval by all their colleagues.
The 35 Iranian lawmakers who signed the preliminary bill described London's direct and indirect interference in Iran's internal affairs, hostile remarks and stances of the British officials against Tehran, financial support for seditious acts in Iran, media propaganda and spying activities against Iran as their reasons for supporting and introducing the bill.
The bill which is awaiting a final approval by a majority of the MPs necessitates the government to drop all its political relations with Britain and concurrently file lawsuits at Iranian and international bodies over the financial and spiritual damages inflicted on Iran by the British government so far.
It also urges the government to inquire the parliament's view about the resumption of relations in case the British government apologizes and asks for resuming bilateral relations with Iran.
The bill has already received the approval of the National Security and Foreign Policy commission. Late in December, the commission submitted the bill to the parliament's presiding board for final discussions and approval by all parliament members.
The Iranian lawmakers initially started drafting a bill to downgrade ties with London after Britain's direct involvement in stirring post-election unrests in Iran in 2009, but they intensified and accelerated the move after British Envoy to Tehran Simon Gass criticized the human rights situation in Iran.
"Today, International Human Rights Day is highlighting the cases of those people around the world who stand up for the rights of others - the lawyers, journalists and NGO workers who place themselves at risk to defend their countrymen," Gass said in a memo published by the British Embassy in Tehran on December 9.
"Nowhere are they under greater threat than in Iran. Since last year human rights defenders have been harassed and imprisoned," Gass added.
Other lawmakers, including head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, had even earlier blasted the negative role of the British ambassador to Tehran, and asked the country's foreign ministry to expel him from Iran.
Following Britain's support for a group of wild demonstrators who disrespected Islamic sanctities and damaged private and public amenities and properties in Tehran on December 27, 2009, members of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission drafted bill of a law requiring the country's Foreign Ministry to cut relations with Britain.
The British government's blatant stance and repeated remarks in support of the last year unrests inside Iran and London's espionage operations and financial and media support for the opposition groups are among the reasons mentioned in the bill for cutting ties with Britain.
Iran has repeatedly accused the West of stoking post-election unrests, singling out Britain and the US for meddling. Tehran expelled two British diplomats and arrested a number of local staffs of the British embassy in Tehran after documents and evidence substantiated London's interfering role in stirring post-election riots in Iran.
In one of the court hearing sessions, British embassy's local staff in Tehran Hossein Rassam, who was charged with spying, admitted cultivating networks of contacts in the opposition movement using a £300,000 budget.
Rassam also confessed that the local staff of the embassy had attended protests against the June's presidential election results along with two British diplomats, named in court as Tom Burn and Paul Blemey, and that he had attended meetings with the defeated opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, alongside Burn.
