senior Iranian official has criticized remarks by British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Iran as an attempt to divert global public opinion from British violations of human rights in the UK.

“It is quite regrettable that the British foreign secretary tries to divert world public attention from the violent and inhumane treatment of defenseless protesters by the country´s police and security forces through his hostile allegations [against the Islamic Republic] ,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Hague claimed that Iran´s refusal to respond to its people´s demands for greater freedom was isolating the country from the rest of the world.

Hague, however, did not offer any specific instances of violations of legitimate freedoms in Iran. Moreover, such hostile rhetoric by UK and other Western powers are commonly made against the Islamic Republic and other independent countries that refuse to submit to policies dictated by the West, led by the US and UK.

The British foreign secretary also threatened that the UK would push the United Nations for a strong resolution condemning human rights abuses in Iran.

“This is while the British government supports the suppression of the innocent people in the region, which in some cases is carried out by British weapons,” Ahani added.

The Iranian official said the British government must be held accountable for providing weapons to countries that clearly deploy them to suppress popular movements aginst Western-backed dictatorships.

The Times reported in August that the UK has exported arms worth at least £30.5 million to countries including Libya, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia between February and June.

The exported weapons included arms used for internal repression, such as small arms ammunition, rifles and sub-machine guns, the report said.

The article says prior to UN´s embargo on supplying weapons to Libya in February, Britain provided Tripoli with ammunition worth a total of £64,000.

Yemen, Bahrain and Egypt were also among countries that bought weapons from UK during the time their governments were facing popular protest.

According to the report, the UK government has issued licenses for exporting firearms and ammunition, which are the most commonly used weapons in suppressing popular protests, to Bahrain.

In his remarks, however, the British foreign secretary also alleged that Iran´s support for popular movements in the Middle East and North of Africa was "breathtaking hypocrisy."

Iran has maintained that the persisting uprisings in the region seek justice and have obviously been Islamic in nature, following Iran´s 1979 Islamic Revolution as their model.

The Guardian also reported in May that Britain was training Saudi Arabia´s national guard -- the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain -- in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles.

End.
Last Updated: 16 September 2011