Iran reviewing ties with UK

TEHRAN, Wednesday

Iran’s Foreign minister said today Tehran was reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Britain, which Iran has accused of interference in its disputed presidential election, the ISNA news agency reported.

The comment by Mr Manouchehr Mottaki came a day after Tehran-London ties hit a new low following Iran’s election, with Britain saying it was throwing out two Iranian diplomats in response to Tehran’s expulsion of two British diplomats.

Separately today, Iran’s intelligence minister said some people with British passports were involved in post-election violence in the Islamic Republic, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

Street unrest

It was the latest in a series of allegations by Tehran of a Western role in the most widespread street unrest that has rocked Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran says pro-opposition demonstrators have been backed by the West, the United States and Britain in particular. London and Washington have rejected the accusations.

Official results showing hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election by a landslide sparked days of street protests. His defeated moderate challenger, Mirhossein Mousavi, says the vote was rigged.

At least 10 protesters were killed in the worst violence on Saturday, and about seven more early last week. State media has blamed the violence on “terrorists” and “vandals”.

Asked about the issue of downgrading relations with Britain, Mottaki told reporters, according to ISNA, “We are reviewing this issue.”

In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “Iran’s decision to try to turn what are internal matters for Iran into a conflict with the UK - and others - is deeply regrettable and without foundation in fact.”

Reformist clerics

Meanwhile, a security crackdown appears to have quelled street rallies, but the leadership faced a new challenge today from calls by reformist clerics for national mourning for dead protesters.

Iran’s hardline Islamist leadership, for now at least, seemed to have gained the upper hand.

In another development, one of the three defeated candidates has withdrawn his complaints about the vote, the official IRNA news agency reported today.

Conservative Mohsen Rezaie, a former Revolutionary Guards head who finished third in the June 12 election according to official results, cited the country’s sensitive political and security conditions as reasons for his decision. (Reuters)