www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

WORLD> Middle East
Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-29 15:36

Iran dismissed the idea of downgrading diplomatic relations with Britain on Monday despite soaring tensions between the two countries after Iranian authorities detained local British Embassy employees for allegedly stirring up post-election unrest.

Britain has angrily denied that any Iranian staff at its embassy in Tehran have been involved in opposition challenges to the regime. On Sunday, the European Union condemned the detentions as "harassment and intimidation" and demanded the immediate release of those still in custody.

Iran has accused the West of stoking unrest, singling out Britain and the United States. Both countries have expressed concern about the ferocity of the regime's crackdown on supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims he was robbed of victory in a June 12 presidential election through massive and widespread vote fraud.

Iranian officials had said they were considering downgrading ties with Britain, which expelled two Iranian diplomats last week - a retaliatory move after Iran ousted two British envoys.

But in a press conference broadcast on state television Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said: "Reduction of diplomatic ties is not on our agenda for any country, including Britain."

Qashqavi said Iranian officials have been in written and verbal contact with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and that he has assured Tehran that Britain would not interfere in Iranian affairs. He said nine embassy employees were arrested and five later released, and that the four still in custody were under interrogation.

Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain

Britain's Foreign Minister David Miliband looks on ahead of a European Union Foreign Ministers meeting on Iran in Corfu June 28, 2009. Britain on Sunday demanded the release of Iranian employees of the British embassy in Tehran and denied that the mission had been involved in any post-election unrest. [Agencies] Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain

The escalating diplomatic dispute came as riot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters - some chanting: "Where is my vote?" - near the Ghoba Mosque in north Tehran on Sunday. It was Iran's first major post-election unrest in four days.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that police used tear gas and clubs to break up the crowd, and said some demonstrators suffered broken bones. They alleged that security forces beat an elderly woman, prompting a screaming match with young demonstrators who then fought back.

The reports could not be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.

North Tehran is a base of support for Mousavi, who insists he - not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - won the disputed election.

Witnesses who spoke with the AP said they did not spot Mousavi at Sunday's rally. But one of his close assistants addressed the crowd through a loudspeaker and other opposition figures also appeared, including reformist presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi.

Sunday's clashes erupted at a rally that had been planned to coincide with a memorial held each year for Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, who came to be considered a martyr in the Islamic Republic after he was killed in a major anti-regime bombing in 1981.

Iranian authorities say 17 protesters and eight members of the volunteer Basij militia have been killed in two weeks of unrest, and that hundreds of people have been arrested.

The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights said its information suggests at least 2,000 arrests have been made - "not just (people) arrested and later released, but who are locked up in prison," the group's vice president, Abdol Karim Lahidji, told the AP.

He said his information came from members of human rights groups in Iran and other contacts inside the country.

Miliband dismissed the allegations that embassy staff were involved in protests as "wholly without foundation."

Related readings:
Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain Iran: British embassy detainees stirred unrest
Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain Iran detains local British embassy staff
Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain Iran leader criticizes Western 'meddling'
Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain Iran's Expediency Council stresses legal means for settling vote disputes
Iran: No downgrade of diplomatic ties with Britain Iran's president lashes out at Obama

But Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi insisted in an interview with state television broadcast late Sunday that he has videotape proof showing that some "were distinctly present at the scene of clashes" and mingled with the crowds to encourage unrest.

Ejehi said the fate of those who remain in custody now rests with Iran's judiciary, which is tightly controlled by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran's escalating standoff with the West complicated President Barack Obama's hopes of engaging the regime in dialogue over its nuclear program. Iran insists its program is peaceful and geared solely toward generating electricity; the US and its allies contend that Tehran is covertly trying to build a nuclear weapon.

US officials said Sunday that the administration remains open to discussions on Iran's nuclear ambitions despite questions about the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad.

"It's in the United States' national interest to make sure that we have employed all elements at our disposal, including diplomacy, to prevent Iran from achieving that nuclear capacity," Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产素人在线观看 | 国产一级毛片夜一级毛片 | 欧美日韩在线观看精品 | 狠狠色狠狠色综合日日32 | 2020精品极品国产色在线观看 | 国产成人免费a在线资源 | 国产农村乱 | 国产区精品在线 | 成年男女的免费视频网站 | tube69xxx最新片| 欧美黑人巨大xxxxxxxx | 越南高清幻女bbwxxxx | 亚洲欧美日本韩国综合在线观看 | 精品成人免费视频 | 色综合久久久 | 毛片在线播放网址 | 国产第一亚洲 | 免费一级特黄欧美大片勹久久网 | 国产一级爱 | 国内精自品线一区91 | 手机看片在线 | 一级做a爰片久久毛片苍井优 | 国产精品特级毛片一区二区三区 | 免费亚洲视频 | 99久久精品国产一区二区 | 亚洲九九色 | 在线观看一区二区三区视频 | 一级片a级片| 欧美一区中文字幕 | 92看片淫黄大片一级 | 欧美一级毛片激情 | 午夜丝袜美腿福利视频在线看 | 欧美视频综合 | se94se欧美| 日韩欧美在线一区二区三区 | 久久国产成人亚洲精品影院老金 | 欧美精品一区二区三区视频 | 成年女人免费看 | 欧美日本一道高清二区三区 | 精品一区二区三区波多野结衣 | 色噜噜狠狠大色综合 |