Spokesman: Iran Determined to Downgrade Ties with Britain
News number: 8906071647 17:57 | 2010-08-29
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8906071647

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said on
Sunday that Tehran is still studying different aspects of downgrading its
relations with Britain, and warned that Tehran's practical measures are
imminent if London insists on its wrong approach and policies towards Iran.

"Given the sensitivity of the (Iranian) people and legislators, the
relations with London have and will certainly be reviewed in certain areas,"
Mehman-Parast told FNA.

Reminding that Iran may lower ties with Britain in economic relations,
academic cooperation, cultural ties or reciprocal visits by the two
countries' officials, he reiterated that whenever necessary Tehran will also
take measures to downgrade its political relations with London.

Mehman-Parast advised British officials to correct their behavior towards
the Iranian nation, and cautioned that London's continued hostility towards
Tehran will impair Britain's position among the Iranian people.

Public sensitivity to the recent measures adopted by the British government
and its affiliated media in dealing with Iran has required the Tehran
government to revise its relations with London.

Iran has repeatedly accused the West of stoking post-election unrests,
singling out Britain and the US for meddling, and expelled two British
diplomats and arrested a number of local staffs of 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 and
confessed that the local staff of the embassy had attended protests against
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.

Earlier, member of the parliament Zohreh Elahian told FNA that the Iranian
parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission had set up a
special committee to continue assessments and studies on a bill which
requires a downgrade of ties with Britain.

"It has been decided that the committee should continue to keep the issue on
its agenda and that further studies and discussions should be carried out in
a related workgroup," Elahian said in May, elaborating on the latest studies
and measures adopted by her commission with regard to the lowering of ties
with Britain.

She also added that the final results would be publicized once expert
discussions with relevant governmental bodies are complete.