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Iranian cleric warns against UN, EU support to Britain

02 December 2011 17:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A senior Iranian cleric on Friday warned the United Nations Security Council and the European Union not to offer support to Britain over the British embassy dispute.

The cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, said at the Friday prayer in Tehran that Britain has lost its reputation before the Muslim world, especially Iran, so it wants to have the European states and international organizations share such a hefty cost with it, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Britain has repeatedly suffered blows from Iran, an example of which is the recent approval by the Iranian parliament to downgrade the diplomatic ties with Britain, Khatami was quoted as saying.

Iran’s highest legislative body, the Guardian Council of the Constitution, on Monday unanimously approved reducing diplomatic ties with Britain in response to its "hostile" policy against Iran.

One day after the approval, Iranian protesters stormed the compounds of the British embassy and the British Council in Tehran, urging the government to expel the British ambassador.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the attacks against the British embassy in Tehran.

At a meeting in Brussels Thursday, EU foreign ministers made the decision to tighten sanctions against Iran in response to Tuesday’s incidents and Iran’s controversial nuclear program.

Ambassadors and diplomats from 25 countries visited the two British compounds in Tehran on Thursday, as a sign of support to Britain.

The move was strongly criticized by several Iranian lawmakers.