FM: Iran Not in Rush to Reopen British Embassy

(FNA)- The Iranian foreign ministry blasted British Prime Minister David Cameron for making hostile statements against Iran during his address to the UN General Assembly in New York, and said Tehran is not in a rush to reopen London's embassy.

"The reopening of the British embassy is moving step by step as we are not in a rush to carry out jobs outside the foreseen format and timeline," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran on Wednesday.

Tehran and London have started action in the last several months to reopen their embassies and normalize ties after relations between the two countries hit an all-time low in November 2011. In a first move, Tehran and London appointed non-resident charge d'affairs, but the two capitals put their actions on a fast-track and later gave a mission to the same diplomats to become resident diplomats to reopen the two countries' embassies.

Later former British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he planned to re-open the British Embassy in Tehran, describing the move as an "important step forward" in relations with Iran. Hague said the UK embassy would re-open "as soon as practical arrangements are made" as a sign of "increasing confidence" in the state of relations between the two countries.

But after the British premier's anti-Iran remarks at the UN meeting in New York, Tehran seems to have taken a more cautious approach.

"The British prime minister's speech was unconstructive and outside the diplomatic norms, and the repeated claims against Iran are unacceptable," Afkham told reporters today.

She referred to a meeting held between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Cameron on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September, and said the meeting was held at the request of the British premier and didn’t mean Iran's acceptance or agreement with London's views.

Asked about the two sides' decision to reopen the British embassy in Tehran, Afkham said,

In relevant remarks last Wednesday, Iran's Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani deplored Cameron for his remarks and human rights allegations against Iran, and said Britain is the most hated country in the world due to its black human rights record.

"It is unfortunate to see that the British prime minister misused his meeting with the Iranian president (on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York) and a few hours later, he used insulting words and accused Iran of violating human rights by repeating false and baseless allegations," Amoli Larijani said, addressing a weekly meeting of judiciary officials in Tehran.

Noting that Britain with its long record of violating human rights is the most hated country in the world, he said, "Such a government isn’t entitled to raise claims against another country about respect for human rights."

"The overt and covert meddling cases of Britain and its colonial record in India, the Middle-East, including Iran, and other parts of the world have created such hatred that it cannot be forgotten for centuries," Amoli Larijani said.