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Iran
UK Secretary of State for the Middle East Andrew Murrison meets with Kamal Kharzai, foreign affairs advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2019. Photo: IRNA
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Britain’s Middle East minister faced a tough reception in Tehran on Sunday when he met with a senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Andrew Murrison, the UK’s secretary of state for the Middle East, was in Tehran to discuss the future of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and pass on the British government’s call for “urgent de-escalation in the region”.
Murrison arrived just days after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) shot down a US Navy drone over its southern coastline, further escalating tensions which have forced airliners to re-route flights away from the Persian Gulf region.
Kamal Kharazi, a foreign policy advisor to Khamenei, did not mince his words, giving Murrison a longwinded history lesson about UK-Iran relations.
“Britain has a very negative perception in the minds of people of Iran, from the First World War when the British entered Iran and caused a famine to the [1901] agreement of [William Knox] D’Arcy, the Tobacco monopoly … the coup against Dr Mosaddegh, and the support for Saddam [Hussein] during [the Iran-Iraq War],” Kharzani, a former foreign minister, told a press conference, according to state-backed IRNA.
“I explained these reasons for this perception and said that the British government must take serious steps to offset this perception.”
Kharzani criticized the UK’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt for echoing the US line accusing Tehran of attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf without launching an independent investigation.
“If the UK wants to de-escalate the tension, it should avoid these hasty conclusions,” Kharzani reportedly told the UK envoy.
He also did not budge on the issue of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as Iran nuclear deal.
“The three European countries and Britain have not taken serious steps in relation to the JCPOA, therefore based on the JCPOA content; Iran would suspend some of its commitments,” he added.
Tehran last week announced it would increase its stockpile of enriched uranium beyond the limits permitted under the accord.
Murrison’s ill-fated visit came as US National Security Advisor John Bolton met with Israeli and Russian national security teams in Jerusalem in a tri-lateral meeting.
Bolton fired back at the Iranians following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confirming the US plans to pile further economic pressure on Iran. President Donald Trump will announce a new raft of sanctions on Monday.
Andrew Murrison, the UK’s secretary of state for the Middle East, was in Tehran to discuss the future of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and pass on the British government’s call for “urgent de-escalation in the region”.
Murrison arrived just days after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) shot down a US Navy drone over its southern coastline, further escalating tensions which have forced airliners to re-route flights away from the Persian Gulf region.
Kamal Kharazi, a foreign policy advisor to Khamenei, did not mince his words, giving Murrison a longwinded history lesson about UK-Iran relations.
“Britain has a very negative perception in the minds of people of Iran, from the First World War when the British entered Iran and caused a famine to the [1901] agreement of [William Knox] D’Arcy, the Tobacco monopoly … the coup against Dr Mosaddegh, and the support for Saddam [Hussein] during [the Iran-Iraq War],” Kharzani, a former foreign minister, told a press conference, according to state-backed IRNA.
“I explained these reasons for this perception and said that the British government must take serious steps to offset this perception.”
Kharzani criticized the UK’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt for echoing the US line accusing Tehran of attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf without launching an independent investigation.
“If the UK wants to de-escalate the tension, it should avoid these hasty conclusions,” Kharzani reportedly told the UK envoy.
He also did not budge on the issue of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as Iran nuclear deal.
“The three European countries and Britain have not taken serious steps in relation to the JCPOA, therefore based on the JCPOA content; Iran would suspend some of its commitments,” he added.
Tehran last week announced it would increase its stockpile of enriched uranium beyond the limits permitted under the accord.
Murrison’s ill-fated visit came as US National Security Advisor John Bolton met with Israeli and Russian national security teams in Jerusalem in a tri-lateral meeting.
Bolton fired back at the Iranians following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, confirming the US plans to pile further economic pressure on Iran. President Donald Trump will announce a new raft of sanctions on Monday.
(AFP and Tasnim News)
“Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness,” Bolton told a press conference alongside Netanyahu. “No one has granted a hunting license in the Middle East.”
Iranian officials and parliamentarians have defended the IRGC decision to shoot down the US Navy drone for allegedly venturing into Iranian airspace.
Commended the commanders involved, Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesperson for the Iranian armed forces, said: “If one bullet is fired at us from the enemy, ten bullets would be fired back.”
Although Trump refrained from launching targeted strikes at Iranian positions on Thursday night to spare Iranian lives, Washington did retaliate by launching a cyberattack on Iranian weapons systems. This will be followed by furthers sanctions announced Monday.
“We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday,” Trump tweeted on Saturday, without providing details.
“I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again – The sooner the better!”
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