Iran summons British envoy over ‘baseless’ allegations of interference

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the British ambassador over what it described as “baseless” accusations by U.K. officials against the government, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Friday.

IRNA said the ministry summoned Hugo Shorter, the British ambassador to Tehran, in response to the repeated baseless accusations by senior British officials and the allegation that Iran is attempting to interfere in the UK’s internal affairs.

Iran’s formal protest was conveyed to him, IRNA said.

On Tuesday, U.K. Security Minister Dan Jarvis announced that Britain will place the whole of the Iranian state – including Iran’s intelligence services and the Revolutionary Guards — on the highest level on its foreign influence watchlist.

In a statement to Parliament, Jarvis said direct action by Iran against UK targets “has substantially increased over recent years,” and the Iranian government was targeting journalists, dissidents and Jewish and Israeli people.

In October, the head of the British domestic intelligence agency MI5 said it and its police partners had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since January 2022. The plots represented potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents, Ken McCallum said.

According to the IRNA report, Iran emphasized that the hostile stance of British officials and the unfounded claims against Iran contradict international law and diplomatic norms. The ministry also warned that such actions would further deepen the Iranian people’s distrust of British policies toward Iran and the West Asia region.

The British ambassador stated that he would convey the message to his government, IRNA reported.