Related News
Iran votes to reduce ties with Britain
Source: Agencies |
November 28, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IRAN'S parliament voted yesterday to reduce diplomatic relations with Britain, with one lawmaker warning that Iranians angered by London's latest sanctions could storm the British embassy as they did to the United States mission in 1979.
The bill will oblige the government to downgrade ties within two weeks, forcing the ambassador out and leaving the British embassy to be run by a charge d'affaires.
The bill now goes to the Guardian Council, a panel of 12 clerics and jurists who judge whether legislation is Islamic. The process usually take one to two weeks. If the council approved the bill, the foreign ministry will be obliged to put it into force and downgrade relations with London.
It comes less than a week after London banned all British financial institutions from doing business with their Iranian counterparts, including the Central Bank of Iran, as part of a new wave of sanctions western countries are imposing on Tehran.
By announcing its moves ahead of other European Union countries, Britain - which Iranians often refer to as "the old fox" - is first in the firing line for retaliation by Tehran, but lawmakers said they would push to cut ties with other EU countries if they follow London's lead.
"The legislative branch is observing the behavior of the British government and this is just the beginning of the road," speaker Ali Larijani told parliament.
Lawmakers who spoke out against the bill did so because they deemed it not strong enough.
"This plan should be firmer and stronger against Britain," Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash told the house. "Having relations with Britain, even with one representative, is a total betrayal and we should padlock the British embassy."
Another member went even further, invoking the storming of the US embassy - dubbed the "den of spies" - by students in the 1979 Islamic revolution. The hostage crisis lasted for 444 days and set the tone for rock-bottom relations between Tehran and Washington ever since.
"The British government should know that if they insist on their evil stances the Iranian people will punch them in the mouth, exactly as happened against America's den of spies, before it was approved by officials," Mehdi Kuchakzadeh said.
Ahead of the vote, lawmakers chanted "Death to England."
Britain is resented by many Iranians for its exploitation of its oil in the early 20th century and its involvement with the US in a 1953 coup which ousted Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq who had nationalized the oil industry.
Parliament's website said there would be a demonstration outside the British embassy tomorrow, the first anniversary of the death of Majid Shahriyari, a nuclear scientist killed along with his wife by a car bomb that Tehran said was the work of Israeli agents.
London and Washington announced new sanctions after a UN nuclear agency report suggested Iran had worked on an atomic bomb design. Tehran maintains its work is entirely peaceful and said the report was based on false Western intelligence.
In a final vote on the bill in the 290-strong assembly, 171 voted for, three against, and seven abstained.
The bill will oblige the government to downgrade ties within two weeks, forcing the ambassador out and leaving the British embassy to be run by a charge d'affaires.
The bill now goes to the Guardian Council, a panel of 12 clerics and jurists who judge whether legislation is Islamic. The process usually take one to two weeks. If the council approved the bill, the foreign ministry will be obliged to put it into force and downgrade relations with London.
It comes less than a week after London banned all British financial institutions from doing business with their Iranian counterparts, including the Central Bank of Iran, as part of a new wave of sanctions western countries are imposing on Tehran.
By announcing its moves ahead of other European Union countries, Britain - which Iranians often refer to as "the old fox" - is first in the firing line for retaliation by Tehran, but lawmakers said they would push to cut ties with other EU countries if they follow London's lead.
"The legislative branch is observing the behavior of the British government and this is just the beginning of the road," speaker Ali Larijani told parliament.
Lawmakers who spoke out against the bill did so because they deemed it not strong enough.
"This plan should be firmer and stronger against Britain," Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash told the house. "Having relations with Britain, even with one representative, is a total betrayal and we should padlock the British embassy."
Another member went even further, invoking the storming of the US embassy - dubbed the "den of spies" - by students in the 1979 Islamic revolution. The hostage crisis lasted for 444 days and set the tone for rock-bottom relations between Tehran and Washington ever since.
"The British government should know that if they insist on their evil stances the Iranian people will punch them in the mouth, exactly as happened against America's den of spies, before it was approved by officials," Mehdi Kuchakzadeh said.
Ahead of the vote, lawmakers chanted "Death to England."
Britain is resented by many Iranians for its exploitation of its oil in the early 20th century and its involvement with the US in a 1953 coup which ousted Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq who had nationalized the oil industry.
Parliament's website said there would be a demonstration outside the British embassy tomorrow, the first anniversary of the death of Majid Shahriyari, a nuclear scientist killed along with his wife by a car bomb that Tehran said was the work of Israeli agents.
London and Washington announced new sanctions after a UN nuclear agency report suggested Iran had worked on an atomic bomb design. Tehran maintains its work is entirely peaceful and said the report was based on false Western intelligence.
In a final vote on the bill in the 290-strong assembly, 171 voted for, three against, and seven abstained.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
