Tensions between Britain and Iran stepped up a notch on Friday when the Iranian foreign minister called on the United Kingdom to pull its troops out of Basra immediately.
”We believe that the presence of the British military forces in Basra has led to the destabilisation of the security situation in the city,” Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters, denouncing what he described as human rights violations by British troops in southern Iraq.
”The Islamic Republic of Iran demands the immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra,” said the Iranian foreign minister, speaking through an interpreter during a visit to Lebanon.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair retorted that there would be no immediate pull-out from Iraq, though he has hinted at starting a phased withdrawal during the first half of this year.
”British troops are in Iraq today under a United Nations mandate and with the consent of the Iraqi government. They stay as long as the UN mandate is in place and the Iraqi government wishes us to stay,” he said. ”What I would say to the Iranians is that there is no point in trying to divert attention from the issues to do with Iran by calling into question the British presence in Iraq.”
The prime minister was commenting during a visit to Germany, where he met the Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Britain and Germany, along with France, have been attempting over the past three years to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear programme — an initiative that is now at an end. On Friday, Blair and Merkel appeared united in their position over Iran, with Merkel saying there is still a ”window” to resolve the situation before the UN Security Council meets in March to discuss the next step.
Britain and Germany are strongly committed to using ”all diplomatic means available”, Blair said. The Iranians overstepped the mark when they resumed their nuclear programme last month, Merkel added.
Defence officials in London suggested that Mottaki’s demand could further aggravate relations in southern Iraq between local leaders and British soldiers.
Earlier this week, local leaders and police chiefs cut off links with the British army to protest videos showing troops beating young Iraqis in Amara, a town north of Basra, two years ago.
While British military commanders say their relations with the new Iraqi army are good, they say relations with local police are ”more complicated”, with Shia militias infiltrating the police force.
They refer to rival Shia militias — the Mehdi army, headed by Moqtada al-Sadr, and the Badr brigades, the military wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The Badr brigades, which Britain seems more concerned about, spent years in exile in Tehran before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Armed Islamist militias said to be funded by Iran have imposed strict codes of behaviour in the Basra region.
The British Foreign Office has also blamed Iran for the deaths of British soldiers killed by roadside bombs with an infrared triggering device. Military and intelligence officials questioned this view and were irritated by what they regarded as unnecessary provocation in statements from the Foreign Office. Last month, Britain dropped the allegation, saying that the bombs were similar to those used elsewhere, notably Lebanon.
Last month, Iran accused the British military in Iraq of cooperating with Arab bombers who attacked targets in the southern Iranian city of Ahvaz, killing eight people. Britain denied the allegation and condemned the attack. — Guardian Unlimited Â