Iran may close economic interaction with countries with which it has
tensions, a spokesman of the commission for national security and
foreign policy of Iran, Kazim Jalali, said, Trend reports.
The commission passed a bill on December 19, closing all political,
cultural and economic ties with countries Tehran distrusts, including
the UK.
The initiative is due to a recent message on the website of the UK
embassy. The UK Ambassador to Iran, Simon Gass, said that there is no
other country putting such pressure on lawyers, journalists and
non-governmental organizations.
The ambassador was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran
and told that it is forbidden to interfere in the internal affairs of
Iran. Conservatives demanded Gass be expelled from the country.
Trade turnover between Iran and the UN Security Council members with
the veto right (USA, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) increased
in March-October 2010 by 12% compared with the same period in 2009.
There has been a fall of imports from the UK of 37%. Exports to the UK
rose by 53.42% ($25.5 million).
Member of parliament Mohammadtaki Rakhbar said that the bill on
closing ties between Iran and UK will be discussed in parliament in
the near future, Fars reports.
He said that the UK has always had a colonial policy towards Iran.
Relations between the two countries remain strained, due to
disagreements over Iran's nuclear program. The British intelligence
service MI-6 accuses Iran of organizing terrorist attacks in Tehran on
November 29. A nuclear specialist, Madjid Shakhriari, and a laser
physicist, Fereydun Abbasi, were injured in the attack.
Iran accuses the UK of supporting the Iranian opposition and provoking
mass disorders in 2009.
