Iran urges Britain to amend attitude toward Tehran

TEHRAN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast urged British officials on Monday to correct their attitudes towards Iran, the local satellite Press TV reported. Mehmanparast's remarks came as Iran's highest legislative body, Guardian Council of the Constitution, unanimously approved reducing diplomatic ties with Britain on Monday. If British authorities intend to promote ties with Iran, they had better prepare the ground for changing the public opinion of the Iranians towards Britain by appropriately modifying their attitudes towards the Islamic Republic, Mehmanparast was quoted as saying. The Iranian spokesman expressed hope that the British officials would take measures in such a way as to avert tension and confrontation, said the report. Iran's Majlis, or parliament, voted on Sunday to reduce the country's diplomatic ties with Britain. The bill, which turned into a law after the Guardian Council's endorsement on Monday, requires the Iranian Foreign Ministry to reduce diplomatic ties with Britain from the ambassador level to the level of charge d'affaires within two weeks. It also calls on the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to reduce economic and trade relations with Britain to the lowest level. Mehmanparast told official IRNA news agency on Sunday that Foreign Ministry will act according to the new law once it officially receives it. Ahmadinejad also defended the Majlis vote, saying that his country was simply responding to Britain's actions, the semi- official ISNA news agency reported on Monday. "They (Britishers) don't want to make transactions with us, well, we don't want transactions (with them) either," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. The Iranian Majlis' move to reduce the ties or to sever diplomatic relations with Britain came after the British government imposed political and economic pressures against Iran, including the recent move to cease business relationships and transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. Last Monday, Britain severed all links with Iranian banks as part of its new financial sanctions in the wake of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that expressed concern over Tehran's controversial nuclear program. Editor: Fang Yan