According to Khabar Online correspondent, a few hours after holding a news conference in Majlis (parliament), Larijani attended a TV interview in his constituency, the city of Qom to comment on the latest Iranian issues including the entrance of Basij students to the British Embassy, a meeting between the heads of country's three branches, and the bills recently passed by the Majlis.
Responding to question about the Majlis's view on the recent actions taken by the British government, Larijani asserted: "The behavior of the British government against Iran during the last decades has been unacceptable and unjustified for Iranian nation."
"Before the Islamic revolution [of 1979] the UK was plundering the natural resources of Iran and oppressed people. Although the United States also oppressed Iran, at a time an American lawmaker apologized Iranian nation for the role they played in coup d'état of 1953, but the UK didn't even same," he added.
The UK behavior toward Iran
Iran's Parliament speaker stated that after the Islamic revolution, the British government followed an adventurous behavior against the Islamic Republic of Iran, "But their conduct was different from cowboy-like actions the United States took against our country. The adventurous but sly measures the UK adopted against Iran were not that much transparent."
Stressing that the UK has always usurped Iranian national interests, Larijani said: "Despite all these sly actions and pressures, the Iranian nation has tolerated them, as they had an embassy in Tehran but didn't stop their misconduct and adventurous measures."
The Majlis stance on ties with the UK
He went on to say: "The Majlis has had the right to evaluate the behavior of British government and downgrade the level of ties with that country. It's a legal act which can be taken in diplomatic relations with any country, but their anger from the first day was not justified and they uttered things which were not correct."
Referring to the behavior of Basiji students who stormed into the British Embassy, Larijani said: "After the incident, the British government reacted amateurishly to the event and went to extreme, as they had recourse to the UN Security Council to condemn the students’ actions, but they didn't point to what they themselves had done."
The parliament speaker underlined that the Majlis believes all the measures in the Islamic Republic of Iran should be taken based on law, but added: "They pulled out their ambassador and diplomats, let them do. To what extent Iran must tolerate the behavior of British officials. How can we justify for the public opinion to have the British ambassador in our country and endure their sly actions against the Islamic Revolution.”
"The dispute must be settled. If a country seeks diplomatic ties with another country, it should show diplomatic respect. Not in a way that a country has an embassy in a country and turns it into a base for organizing hostile and sly acts- covered up by a diplomatic behavior- against the hosting country”, he said.
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