Iranian MPs propose cutting ties with Britain

Massoud Ali Mohammadi was killed in a bomb blast in Tehran

TEHRAN (Agencies)

Dozens of Iranian members of parliament have put forward a proposal to cut relations with Britain, which Tehran has often accused of interfering in its internal affairs, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

State radio said the initiative was backed by 40 MPs in the 290-seat assembly. The ISNA news agency put the number at 35.

But it was unclear when, and if, the proposal would be debated and voted upon by the legislature. ISNA said the proposal was for a complete cut in "political" relations.

" Considering the sinister actions of the British government towards the Iranian nation, it is the duty of the national security commission to decide about this country ... and I thank them for working on it " Iranian speaker Ali Larijani Speaker Ali Larijani said it was the task of parliament's foreign policy and national security commission to handle the issue of relations with Britain, which is among Western powers accusing Iran of seeking to develop nuclear bombs. Late last month, Iran summoned the British ambassador in Tehran and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki threatened Britain with a "slap in the mouth" if it did not stop interfering in Iranian affairs. That came after British Foreign Secretary David Miliband criticized Iranian authorities after eight people were killed in anti-government protests on Dec. 27. Iranian officials have repeatedly accused Western powers, including Britain, of fomenting street protests that erupted after the Islamic Republic's disputed election in June. "Considering the sinister actions of the British government towards the Iranian nation, it is the duty of the national security commission to decide about this country ... and I thank them for working on it," Larijani said, ISNA reported. The commission's chairman, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said the proposal by the MPs had not been coordinated with the commission and called it a hasty move, ISNA reported. Even if the parliament voted to cut or reduce relations with Britain, such a move must be approved by a powerful legislative body, the Guardian Council. The United States cut relations with Tehran shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah.

Accusing CIA and Israel Iranian nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi Also on Wednesday, Larijani accused intelligence agents of the U.S and Israel on Wednesday of plotting a bombing which killed a top atomic scientist. "We had received clear information a few days before (the assassination) that the (intelligence) service of the Zionist regime, with the cooperation of the CIA, were seeking to carry out a terrorist act in Tehran," ISNA Larijani as saying. Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor at prestigious Tehran University, was killed on Tuesday morning by a bomb strapped to a motorcycle in the capital's well-to-do northern suburbs.

" They might have thought that, in the face of certain internal disputes, there was an opportunity to take this action and that they could cause friction among academics and harm the country's nuclear research work " Ali Larijani "They (the Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies) might have thought that, in the face of certain internal disputes, there was an opportunity to take this action and that they could cause friction among academics and harm the country's nuclear research work," Larijani added. Islamist students and the volunteer Basij militia condemned the killing of Ali Mohammadi, who they described as "a Basiji professor." But his name appeared on a list of academics backing opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed June 12 presidential election, which gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term. The assassination came as the government faced the most sustained period of protest since the revolution of 1979, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets of Tehran after the June election. The opposition claims the vote was massively rigged in Ahmadinejad' s favor. For the past six months, it has been holding anti-government protests at every opportunity, many of which have been broken up by police who have arrested hundreds of demonstrators. The daylight killing also came amid an increasingly bitter standoff between Iran and world powers over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, which the West suspects is cover for a weapons drive. Larijani slammed U.S. President Barack Obama for "rashly resorting to a monarchist group which has no credibility to cover such an operation." The former nuclear official was alluding to a group called Takavaran Tondar which claimed responsibility for the bombing on its website. But according to the Rahesabz.net opposition website, the group later disavowed the claim and accused Iranian intelligence agents of "plotting a hoax."