Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday Iran is reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Britain, accusing London of meddling in the post-election tumult gripping the Islamic republic. "We are examining it," he was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying, after repeated charges by Tehran that Britain and the United States are trying to destabilise the Islamic republic.
His announcement came a day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after Tehran ordered two British diplomats to leave. Downing Street said Britain wants "constructive" ties with Iran but renewing criticism of Tehran's response to the hotly disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"We have always been clear that we seek a constructive bilateral relationship with Iran based on mutual respect," a spokesman said after Mottaki's comments. Iran has repeatedly accused Britain of stoking the unrest that has engulfed the country since the June 12 election, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing it as the "most evil" of enemies.
Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Wednesday that some people with British passports "had a role in the riots" Mohseni-Ejei was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying members of "known counter-revolutionary groups" who entered the country in the run-up to the vote had been arrested.