Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Ala'eddin Broujerdi says Iran hails the exit of British Ambassador to Tehran Simon Gass from the country, Press TV reported.
"We are happy that he has gone from Iran, because his presence in Iran was useless and in fact he was doing nothing," Fars news agency quoted Broujerdi as saying on Sunday.
"Since the Islamic Republic does not have an ambassador to Britain, our country has, since long time ago, conveyed this message to the UK that considering the policies they have adopted towards Iran, the presence of their ambassador to the country is meaningless," he added.
"Considering the actions taken, it seems that they (Britain) want to take the same measure as Iran did," the Iranian lawmaker went on to say.
Asked about Iran's reaction, if Britain does not send an ambassador in the future, Broujerdi said, "We will welcome that."
Gass was assigned to the post of the head of the UK mission in Tehran on April 2009, but his activities were denounced by Iran as clear interference in Iran's internal affairs.
On Dec.9, 2010, Gass wrote a post on the British embassy's website, which was indicative of his anger over the Iranian media's covering of anti-government students' protests across the UK.
The British envoy was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry to channel Iran's criticism of the UK government's harsh policing of student protests against hikes in university tuition fees.
The British envoy's behavior sparked an angry reaction among Iranian political circles and in the parliament where Iranian lawmakers called for the British envoy's expulsion and reduction of Tehran-London diplomatic exchanges.
In response, Iranian lawmakers presented a motion to the parliament's board, which if approved will obligate the government to sever all its ties with the British government.
The motion, signed by 35 members of the parliament referred to the "long history of the British government's direct and indirect interference in Iran's internal affairs" as one of several reasons behind the call for the severance of relations.