Iran Parliament introduces bill to review UK ties

The Iranian Parliament (Majlis) is working on a bill that calls on the government to reconsider Iran's relations with Britain, says a top Iranian lawmaker.

"There is a serious demand in Iran to downgrade ties with the British government. Parliamentarians have now proposed a bill regarding the issue," said Kazem Jalali, the rapporteur of the Foreign Relations and National Security Commission of the Iranian Parliament, on Sunday.

Remarks made by British officials after the Iranian presidential election on June 12 drew sharp criticism from the Tehran government, prompting the Iranian Parliament to introduce a resolution to reconsider ties with Britain. The bill has received widespread support in the country.

However, Jalali added that ending all relations with London would not necessarily resolve the issues between the two governments, stressing that better management of ties with Britain would be a more effective solution.

The Iranian government has repeatedly accused Britain and a number of other Western states of inciting the post-election unrest in the country.

Earlier in January, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran would consider limiting relations with London in various fields.

The idea gained momentum after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged to give the move 'some serious thought,' saying the bossy and intrusive attitude of British officials in the wake of the June presidential election had left Tehran no choice but to limit the level of its relations with London.

Diplomatic relations between Iran and Britain was severed in the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

However, in September 1990, Iran and Britain resumed ties at a lower level, which was gradually increased to an ambassadorial level in the ensuing years. The two countries eventually restored full diplomatic relations after a visit by Jack Straw, the then British foreign secretary, to Iran in 2001.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119153§ionid=351020101.