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UK should consider consequences of expelling Iranian diplomats: MP

Tehran - UK should accept consequences of expelling Iranian diplomats, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Parliament said here Wednesday. He pointed to the events on April 30th, 1980, when the Iranian Embassy in London was overtaken and said UK police's failure to protect the safety of the Iranian diplomats in the event which was against the Vienna Convention and the international rules.

'The Iranian police protected the UK Embassy much better compared to what happened in case of the Iranian Embassy which resulted in the death of two Iranian diplomats,' the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Parliament underlined.

The official noted that the Iranian police forces arrested some of the UK Embassy's occupiers and some of the students have been injured in the clashes between the police and the protesters.

'The UK is still responsible for the killing of two Iranian diplomats in the seizure of Iranian embassy in 1980.

'Iran had no decision to expel the UK diplomats from Tehran,' Boroujerdi added.

He underscored that the Iranian parliament approved a bill which demands reducing of diplomatic relations between Tehran and London but the UK decision for calling back of its embassy's employees is the same as what Americans did in 1979.

I advise the EU countries not to follow suit after the UK and not to entrap themselves in London's policies, Boroujerdi said.

Diplomatic relations between Tehran and London have considerably deteriorated in recent years.

On 28 November 2011, Iran downgraded its relations with Britain due to new sanctions put in place by the UK. The next day a band of students outraged by London's hostile behavior occupied the UK Embassy compound in Tehran. In response to the attack, the UK closed its embassy in Tehran and ordered the Iranian Embassy in London to be closed.

On November 30th, 2011, the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that all Iranian diplomats had been expelled and given 48 hours to leave the United Kingdom.

On April 30th, 1980, the Iranian Embassy was overtaken by a six-man terrorist team who held the building for six days and killed two Iranian diplomats.

After the Revolution of Iran in 1979, Britain suspended all diplomatic relations with Iran. Britain did not have an embassy until it was reopened in 1988.

London's illogical opposition to Iran's peaceful nuclear program also continues to remain a serious obstacle in the improvement of Tehran-London ties.

In the aftermath of the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the UK-Iran relations were further tested. On June 19th, 2009, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei described the British Government as the 'most evil' of those in the Western countries, saying that the British Government sent spies to Iran to stir emotions at the time of the elections. Iran then proceeded to expel two British diplomats from the country, for their activities which were inconsistent with their diplomatic status.

On June 24th, 2009, the Iranian foreign minister at them Manouchehr Mottaki announced that the country was considering 'downgrading' its ties with the UK.

Four days later it was reported that the Iranian authorities had arrested a number of British Embassy staffs in Tehran citing their 'considerable role' in the unrests.

© IRNA 2011