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UK needs to make up for past mistakes

The Iranian people and their representatives in Parliament pursue the British officials’ interfering remarks with raw emotions, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman says.

Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday that the Iranian nation and their lawmakers carefully consider the incomprehensible and interfering remarks made by British diplomats and other UK officials in London who seek intervention in other countries’ internal affairs.

The spokesman was referring to a motion approved at Iran’s Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, upon which the government is obliged to cut diplomatic relations with the British government if approved by a majority of the members of parliament.

“What the British ambassador is doing in Iran and the measures he had been following are wrong diplomatically. He should be pursuing plans that help promote bilateral relations. But, on the contrary, he has been working on matters which are not included in diplomatic officials’ [list of] tasks,” Mehmanparast said.

The United Kingdom’s envoy to Tehran, Simon Gass had made some impudent remarks this month concerning the practice of human rights in Iran.

In his remarks posted on the website of the British Embassy in Tehran to mark the International Human Rights Day, Gass claimed he is critical of Iran’s human rights situation.

“The British government will continue to draw attention to cases in which people are deprived of their fundamental freedom,” he claimed.

Gass’ remarks drew widespread condemnation from Iranian officials who dismissed his allegations as a clear example of interference in other countries’ internal affairs.

Members of Iranian Parliament or Majlis’ National Security and Foreign Policy Commission voted to sever all ties with the British government in response to the UK interventionist policies, Gass’ statement in particular.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman called on the British government to make up for its past mistakes and pay due attention to “those sensitivities”.

“If the UK government fails to correct its past wrong policies, it should be waiting for a different response from our nation and our representatives,” said Mehmanparast.

“Anyway, the British diplomatic mission in our country should be seeking for ways to mend bilateral ties and promote cooperation as well as making up for its past mistakes,” added the foreign ministry spokesman.

Iranian officials believe if the UK fails to enforce a clear shift in its anti-Iran policies, then bilateral political and economic relations would not serve the Islamic Republic’s national interests.

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