UK tries to save face on Iran

The UK government has severed London's financial dealings with Iran out of fears that the Islamic Republic may be considering to cut all its bilateral relations with the country soon. Earlier this month, Iran's parliament (Majlis) assigned the Foreign Policy and National Security Commission to review a motion to cut all the country's relations with Britain. The motion was flouted in response to the UK's hostile approach, which was exacerbated after the release of the latest report by the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA) on Tehran's nuclear activities. In the report, IAEA chief Yukio Amano accused Iran of seeking to develop a clandestine nuclear weapons program after receiving intelligence from sources hostile to the Islamic Republic, mainly from Israeli regime, whose hostility towards the Iranian nation and government is crystal clear to the international community. Irrespective of the facts on the ground, British authorities were the first to threaten Iran with military action after the politically-engineered IAEA report against Iran was released. Soon after the release of report, newspaper said in a report that British military authorities were considering contingency plans for launching an invasion on Iran. The authorities said Britain would endorse any U.S. action plan amed at launching an invasion on Iran amid decisions made in Washington to fast-forward missile strikes at the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities, the report said. Iran has been considering breaking off relations with the UK several times before due to London's interference in the country's internal affairs and its undiplomatic approach towards Tehran. The motion to cuts UK ties was first brought up in 2009, following Britain's conspiracies and direct involvement in Iran's post-elections unrests. It was again in 2011 that Iranian lawmakers decided to review the motion to severe UK ties, in response to the country's anti-Iran measures at the international arena. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast told a press conference in Tehran that the Islamic Republic have currently the lowest level of trade exchanges with the UK and US, adding that fresh unilateral sanctions will have “no impact on Iran's trade and economic ties with other countries”. Britain ranked 10th among Iran's trade partners in the European Union with Tehran-London's bilateral trade topping nearly £230 million in 2010. The country has, for the first time, severed an entire country's banking system off from London's financial sector. Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani reacted to the latest UK's anti-Iran move by announcing that Tehran would hit back. "This will not go unanswered and we will review our ties with them ... there will be a tit-for-tat reaction," he said. Russia has also condemned the unilateral sanctions as "extraterritorial measures unacceptable and contradictory to international law".