Friday, February 06, 2009

AFP, London, 05 February 2009 (excerpts) – Britain accused Iran of intimidating its staff after closing its main cultural centre in Tehran, in the latest flare-up of between the two countries.
The British embassy in Tehran on Thursday expressed regret over the move, which added to tensions already strained over Iran’s nuclear programme.
But the British Council said it had “no choice” but to act after Iranian authorities summoned most of its 16 local staff for “interviews” in December and “suggested to them that they should resign from their posts”.
The cultural organisation said two members of staff had their passports confiscated after they tried to leave the country to go to a meeting, prompting the organisation to suspend all operations in Iran on January 31.
“These actions by the Iranian authorities are unacceptable,” British Council chief executive Martin Davidson said late Wednesday.
“They are designed to pressurise our staff with the clear intention of stopping our cultural and educational work in the country.”
The British embassy said it hoped the cultural offices could re-open soon.
“With regret, the embassy’s cultural and education activities have had to be suspended, as a result of action taken by the Iranian authorities,” embassy spokeswoman Mitra Behnam Mojtahedi told AFP.
“We remain committed to developing cultural and educational links between the people of Iran and the UK, and we hope to resume our work as soon as possible,” she said.
Davidson said “maintaining open and constructive dialogue between countries is vital during difficult times”, and he also voiced hope that operations could resume as soon as possible.
He refused to speculate whether the row had anything to do with the arrival of a new US president in the White House.
Tensions with the United States and Britain, already high over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, increased this week when Iran launched its first satellite.