Iranian parliament urges revision of diplomatic ties with Britain

Tehran - An Iranian parliamentary commission has urged the government to revise diplomatic ties with Britain, the Fars news agency reported Monday. A spokesman of the parliament's foreign policy commission told Fars that a meeting was held on Sunday with representatives of the Foreign Ministry, chamber of commerce and the new ambassador to London to discussing future relations with Britain.

Mohammad Karami-Rad said some commission members favored cutting diplomatic relations with London, while others called for downgrading ties.

The parliament started earlier this month discussing a draft bill to sever diplomatic ties with Britain, but decided that the bill would first be evaluated in the foreign policy commission.

Tehran accuses Britain of opposing its civil nuclear programs and interfering in internal affairs by being involved with recent protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Unlike the parliament, the Foreign Ministry prefers a downgrade of parts of commercial cooperation, officials said.

Karami-Rad said the decision should be made by the National Security Council or directly by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state affairs.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305602,iranian-parliament-urges-revision-of-diplomatic-ties-with-britain.html.