TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Ministry called in the British ambassador to address what it labeled as “unfounded” claims from UK officials against the Iranian government. The state-run IRNA news agency reported this step taken on Friday.
The IRNA highlighted that Hugo Shorter, Britain’s ambassador to Tehran, was summoned due to repeated unfounded assertions by British authorities and allegations of Iranian interference in the UK’s domestic affairs.
IRNA noted that Iran lodged a formal complaint through its communication with Shorter. This event follows comments made earlier in the week by the UK Security Minister, Dan Jarvis. Jarvis declared that Britain would classify the entire Iranian state, along with Iran’s intelligence services and Revolutionary Guards, at the highest threat level on its foreign influence monitoring list.
In a parliamentary statement, Jarvis mentioned a significant increase in direct threats from Iran against UK targets. The Iranian government, he claimed, has been actively targeting journalists, dissidents, and individuals of Jewish or Israeli descent.
Further commenting, Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, the UK’s domestic security agency, previously indicated in October that law enforcement had countered 20 Iran-associated plots since early 2022. McCallum described these as potentially deadly threats against UK residents.
The IRNA article conveyed Iran’s position that the British officials’ adversarial approach and baseless assertions are in conflict with international law and diplomatic protocol. Iran warned that such actions could deepen the Iranian public’s skepticism towards British strategies concerning Iran and the West Asia region.
According to IRNA, the British ambassador assured he would relay Iran’s statement to his government.
