Crowds chanted "Death to Britain" at Tehran University on Friday prayers as a hard-line Iranian cleric warned the United Nations and European Union against siding with London after students and militia stormed the British Embassy in Tehran. Cleric Ahmad Khatami denounced those, including the EU, who had tied themselves to "the rotten rope of Britain", as a group involved in the embassy's ransacking prepared to give Iranian diplomats expelled from Britain a hero's welcome home.
Khatami told worshippers that the Security Council was showing itself to be as bad as Britain, which Iranian hard-liners believe is plotting to bring down their Islamic system. "Issuing a statement against Iran means falling into a well with the rotten rope of Britain," Khatami said to chants of "Death to Britain".
Khatami also warned Britain's EU partners - which tightened sanctions on Tehran on Thursday over its disputed nuclear programme, and are considering banning Iranian oil imports - against closing ranks with London. "If you have just a bit of wisdom, you won't tie your rope to the rotten rope of Britain," he said. Increasing tensions with the world's fifth biggest oil exporter pushed up global oil prices despite concerns of a sustained economic downturn in the West. Brent crude rose towards $110 a barrel on Friday.
In an unprecedented move, Iran's culture ministry banned foreign media from covering anti-British pro-government protests in Tehran, especially rallies "in front of the British Embassy and the Qolhak compound unless authorised in advance", the ministry in a statement. Witnesses reported a heavy presence of police at Ferdowsi square, where the British embassy is located.
"Life is normal in the area but there are many police officers in the area," said a witness who asked not to be named. In 2009, the ministry banned foreign media from covering anti-government street protests that followed the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.