May’s Remarks Expose UK’s Divisive Policy

A senior lawmaker said the recent comments by British Prime Minister Theresa May against the Islamic Republic prove that London is pursuing a divisive agenda.

Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi told IRIB on Thursday that the British prime minister's remarks among "subservient regional countries are not compatible with the reality" of the Islamic Republic and "indicate Britain's divisive policy", Press TV reported.

Speaking at the annual summit of (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in the Bahraini capital Manama on Wednesday in a televised address, May said Britain would help the (P)GCC states "push back" against what she claimed to be Iran's "aggressive regional actions".

The British premier also said her country wanted to "make a more permanent and more enduring commitment to the long-term security" of the Persian Gulf and would invest almost $4 billion in defense spending in the region over the next 10 years.

Boroujerdi urged Britain to refrain from taking any measure that would once again prompt the Iranian legislative branch to scale down the level of diplomatic ties with London.

"If Britain seeks to persist with such a policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Majlis will once again move to downgrade relations," he said. Britain reopened its embassy in Tehran in August 2015 as a sign of improvement of ties between the two countries. The European country had shut down its embassy in Tehran in November 2011 and withdrew its diplomatic staff after protestors angered by expansion of UK sanctions on Iran stormed the British Embassy in Tehran, pulling down the UK flag and demanding expulsion of the British ambassador.

In late November 2011, Iran's Parliament approved a bill to downgrade the diplomatic ties between Tehran and London to the level of chargé d'affaires, and limit all economic and cultural collaborations to the minimum level.

Nearly two years after their diplomatic ties were severed, Iran and Britain agreed in October 2013 to appoint non-resident chargés d'affaires as a first step toward reestablishment of ties.

Iran and Britain upgraded their ties back to the ambassador level in September, in another sign of warming relations between the two sides.

The Islamic Republic named Hamid Baeidinejad, the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, as its new ambassador to Britain.

Britain also introduced Nicholas Hopton as its new ambassador to Tehran. Hopton had previously served as Britain's ambassador to Qatar and Yemen.