Iran summons British ambassador over London’s meddlesome statements, interference

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the British ambassador in Tehran, Simon Shercliff, over the UK’s continued interference in Iran's internal affairs and new sanctions against Tehran.

According to a Saturday statement, during a meeting, the head of the third bureau of Western Europe at Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the continuation of British officials' meddling and impudent remarks about internal developments in Iran and the support of the country's government and media for acts of terror and turmoil in Iran.

The Iranian official also conveyed the Islamic Republic’s vehement protest at Britain’s illegal sanctions against a number of Iranian nationals to the British envoy.

He told Shercliff that efforts by Britain and the London-based state media to incite more protest in Iran would bear no fruit and would only increase the Iranian nation's hatred towards the European country's policies against Tehran.

The British diplomat was told that the Islamic Republic reserves the right to take retaliatory measures in response to the new sanctions.

Britain on Friday announced sanctions against 10 Iranian officials in the country’s biggest package brought against individuals, over alleged human rights violations, particularly during the recent protest in Iran sparked by the death of a young Iranian woman in police custody.

Protests broke out in several Iranian cities after the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died at hospital three days after she collapsed at a police station in Tehran. An investigation attributed her death to her medical condition, dismissing allegations that she had been beaten by police forces. Despite Iranian officials’ clarification on the circumstances surrounding her death, violent street protests ensued, culminating in attacks on security officers and acts of vandalism against public property and sanctities.

The Islamic Republic has strongly censured certain countries, topped by the United States and its Western allies, for provoking the riots through their spy agencies and propaganda apparatuses. London, in particular, hosts several anti-Iran networks, including Iran International, Manoto, and BBC Persian.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday once again decried Western double standards regarding human rights and women as well as interference in the domestic affairs of the Islamic Republic, saying those actions have provoked violence and terrorism in the country.

Certain Western states incite violence, terrorism in Iran: Foreign minister

Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone call with his Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra.

The Iranian foreign minister said rioters and perpetrators of the acts of terror and those who used weapons against the police forces would undoubtedly face justice in accordance with the judicial law of the Islamic Republic.

During the Saturday meeting, the Iranian Foreign Ministry official also strongly rejected London's baseless allegations about the export of Iranian-made drones to Russia.

He told the British ambassador that the dispatch of lethal weapons by Britain and its allies has prolonged the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which can be solved through political channels.

The British ambassador, for his part, expressed regret over the incident, adding that he will convey Iran’s protest to his respective country.

Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward claimed on Friday that Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, and offering Tehran an unprecedented level of military and technical support in return.

Iran, which has repeatedly rejected in the strongest terms the Western claims of delivery of weapons and drones to Russia to be used against Ukraine, says it has had long-term defense cooperation with Moscow and pursues a resolution of the conflict through dialog and diplomacy.

Administration's spokesman slams Britain's hypocrisy on suppression

The Iranian administration's spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi also slammed the West's dual policy on clampdown on the protesters.

In a tweet on Saturday, Bahadori Jahromi said Western countries encourage the protesters to wage a "civil war" in Iran while they give their own police extraordinary power to easily suppress protests.

"This is more outrageous than double standards," he tweeted.

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