Iran blasts UK’s Jack Straw for critical comments

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 13 – Iran’s Foreign Ministry blasted British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday for his comments critical of Iran for meddling in southern Iraq. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 13 – Iran’s Foreign Ministry blasted British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday for his comments critical of Iran for meddling in southern Iraq.

Speaking on BBC Newsnight on Wednesday, Straw said that the British government believed that “elements of the Iranian regime” may have been involved “more directly” in planning attacks against British troops.

In unusually threatening language, The British Foreign Secretary also said that his country’s soldiers were entitled to defend themselves against attacks by these elements, adding that such decisions were up to military commanders on the ground.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi countered by saying, “The British government is responsible for the crisis in Iraq”.

“The British government, without providing any evidence, is accusing others to whitewash its own failures and the disgrace over its two arrested soldiers in southern Iraq”, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman added.

Asefi also blamed London for disturbances in southern Iran, adding that Tehran had already warned the British government about such “meddling”.

Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Iran against interfering in Iraq, saying London suspected that explosives used to kill British troops in the country may have come from the Islamic Republic.

Asefi went on to say, “Instead of repeating its baseless accusations, Britain should be thinking about leaving Iraq”.