Britain on Thursday accused Iran of intimidating its staff after closing its main cultural centre in Tehran, in the latest flare-up of tension between the two countries. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed "great regret" over the closure, which came amid already strained relations over Iran's nuclear programme, but blamed "unacceptable pressure put on its staff by the Iranian government.
The British Council cultural centre said it had "no choice" but to act after Iranian authorities summoned most of its 16 local staff for "interviews" in December and "suggested to them that they should resign from their posts". The cultural organisation said two members of staff had their passports confiscated after they tried to leave the country to go to a meeting, prompting the organisation to suspend all operations in Iran on January 31.
"Today the British Council has announced that it has been forced to suspend its operation in Iran because of unacceptable pressure put on its staff by the Iranian government," Miliband said in a statement.
"It is a matter of great regret that a country with Iran's culture should reject attempts to break down barriers and build cultural dialogue." He added: "The people of Iran do not want to be isolated from the world. So I hope the Iranian government will enable the British Council to resume normal operations as soon as possible."
The British embassy said it hoped the cultural offices could re-open soon. British Council head Martin Davidson said "maintaining open and constructive dialogue between countries is vital during difficult times", but added that the body must be able to work "without fear of intimidation or harassment."
British officials refused to speculate whether the row was linked to the arrival of a new US president in the White House. Tensions with the United States and Britain, already high over Iran's nuclear ambitions, increased this week when Iran launched its first satellite.
Washington and London suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran rejects. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appealed Thursday for "bullying" world powers to show politeness in dealing with his country. "Bullying powers should learn how to speak correctly and be polite so Iran's cultured and peace-loving people listen to them," he said in the north-eastern shrine city of Mashhad.
Last month, Iran warned the BBC's Tehran bureau against contributing to the network's newly launched Farsi language television channel, which is banned from operating in Iran. A major diplomatic row between the two countries erupted in March 2007 when Iran seized a group of 15 British sailors on a navy patrol near the Shatt al-Arab waterway between Iraq and Iran.
The group was held for nearly two weeks before being released. The British Council, while officially an independent non-profit charity, receives a large part of its funding from Britain's Foreign Office. Last year it fell foul of the Russian authorities amid a diplomatic stand-off between Britain and Moscow triggered by the November 2006 radioactive poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko in London.
The authorities in Moscow shut down all but one of its Russian offices in January 2008 amid accusations of tax evasion. The council, which promotes cultural and educational links, first set up an office in Iran in 1942, but closed in 1979 after the Islamic revolution. It reopened in 2001 at the request of the Iranian authorities. More than 10,000 Iranians participated in the council's programmes in Tehran over the past two years, according to figures from the Foreign Office released to parliament last month.
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