Iran threatens to reduce ties with Britain
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Iran on Monday threatened to reduce ties with Britain over what it called the interference of the Britain in Iran's domestic affairs.
Rapporteur of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said that in reaction to human rights remarks made by Britain's ambassador to Iran Simon Gass, the parliament will consider a plan to reduce ties with Britain, the state IRIB TV reported on Monday.
Kazem Jalali said that the commission would discuss the plan next week due to interfering remarks by the British envoy over Iran's national affairs.
In the remarks posted on the web site of the British Embassy to Iran to mark the International Human Rights Day, Simon Gass said he is critical of the human rights situation in Iran.
"The British government," he said, "will continue to draw attention to cases in which people are deprived of their fundamental freedom."
On Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry summoned Simon Gass to protest against what it described the British police "violence" against the students and the ambassador's interfering remarks over the human rights situation in Iran, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
In the meeting with the British ambassador, an Iranian foreign ministry official reminded Gass of his diplomatic commitments and urged him not to perform beyond his responsibilities, Mehr reported.
Iran also protested against the "violent and inhumane" behavior of the British police in dealing with the university students demonstrations over the tuition rise, the report said.
Secretary of Iran's Human Rights Headquarters Mohammad-Javad Larijani Monday accused Britain of violating human rights, saying Britain is a leading country in human rights violation, the official IRNA news agency reported.
He criticized the British police behavior towards the recent students' protests in London over the tuition rise, according to the report.
Meanwhile, referring to the remarks made by the British ambassador to Iran about Iran's human rights, he said that the British are trying to conceal the existing problems in their own country by criticizing human right issues in other countries.
On Sunday, chief of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi slammed the "defiant remarks" by British ambassador, saying "it seems that the mission of the British ambassador to Tehran is to ruin the relations ( between Iran and the UK) rather than fix them, " according to IRIB TV.
Also in the day, head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Iranian Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh called on the country's foreign ministry to expel the British ambassador from Iran.
The British government has so far not reacted to Iranian officials' remarks.
