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FCO Spokesperson: Iran, UK interested in good bilateral relations

Politics Materials 11 April 2011 17:20 (UTC +04:00)
Tehran and London are interested in maintaining stable relations between the two countries, which are possible provided that Iran complies with its international nuclear obligations and improves human rights situation in the country, a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) Spokesperson said.
FCO Spokesperson: Iran, UK interested in good bilateral relations

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 11 /Trend T.Konyayeva/

Tehran and London are interested in maintaining stable relations between the two countries, which are possible provided that Iran complies with its international nuclear obligations and improves human rights situation in the country, a British Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) Spokesperson said.

"We believe that good diplomatic relations are in the interests of both the UK and Iran," the FCO spokesperson told Trend in an email. "But these will only come when the Iranian Government addresses international concerns about its nuclear programme and improves its increasingly poor human rights record."

On Monday, Iran ian Deputy Parliament ary S peaker Mohammad Hassan Abou-Torabi said decreasing ties with the UK is on the Iranian lawmakers' agenda and it will be considered by the Parliament in due time.

Earlier in January, a group of Iranian lawmakers announced plans to set up a special fraction at the parliament tasked with pursuing initiatives to cut all relations with the British government, following remarks made by the British ambassador to Iran Simon Gass for criticizing the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic.

"The lawyers, journalists, NGO members experience such pressure nowhere in the world as in Iran," the ambassador said. He also drew attention to numerous cases of arrests of human rights defenders in Iran.

Gass was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, where the inadmissibility of interfering in the internal affairs of Iran was pointed out to him.

A group of Iranian politicians of the conservative camp demanded the immediate expulsion of the diplomat from the country, who allowed "insulting and demeaning attacks" against Iran, threatening the relations between the two countries.

Britain is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council adopted in June 2010 the resolution imposing the fourth round of sanctions over Iran because of the refusal to abandon its enrichment program.

Iranian nuclear program has caused concern since 2003, when the IAEA became aware of its concealed activity. In late 2003, Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and voluntarily announced about the suspension of uranium enrichment. However, it returned to this activity. Iran insists that as a party to the NPT it has the full right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The enriched uranium can be used to produce nuclear weapons. However, it is necessary as fuel for atomic power plants. Several countries, including Britain, are sure that Iran strives to develop nuclear weapons and call for to prevent this development.

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