Tehran warns Iranians against cooperating with British Council

Bianca Rahimi

Press TV, London

Regarded by many as an instrument of Britain's soft power the British Council has 179 branches in 107 countries.

It enjoyed a budget of £1.1 billion from 2016 to 2017 in addition to a £158 million grant from the British government. And in 2017, 65 million people directly used the service and 731 million people engaged with it online.

For a long time governments across the globe have suspected the British Council is used as a talent spotting and recruitment tool for the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6.

British Council offices in Tehran were closed down 10 years ago. But in 2018 dual national and British Council employee Aras Amiri was arrested during a trip to Iran.

Iran’s Judiciary says Amiri quickly confessed to passing information to British intelligence agents. She has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Iran says dual citizenship does not grant an Iranian national immunity from Iranian law.

In March 2018 Russia formally banned the British Council, accusing it of being a cover up for British spies. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev backed the decision saying "If someone allows you in their home, act decently."

After all, it is known that state-financed structures like the British Council conduct a mass of other activities that are not so widely publicized. Among other things, they are involved in gathering information and conducting espionage activities.

In a statement on November 5th Iran’s Intelligence Ministry reminded the Iranian people, cultural community, elites and the intelligentsia about what it described as “the UK government’s hostile plots against Iran.”

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