Iran summons British and Norwegian ambassadors for ‘interference’

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of Britain and Norway in Tehran on Saturday for their countries’ “interference” in Iran’s internal affairs, Anadolu has reported, citing the official IRNA.

According to IRNA, the ministry summoned British Ambassador Simon Shercliff to protest against Britain’s hosting of Farsi-language news outlets that have been reporting on anti-government protests in Iran over the death of a woman while in the custody of the so-called morality police. The agency added that the Director-General of Western European Affairs at the ministry told Shercliff that the outlets are “working to incite riots and expand the scope of unrest in the country.”

Britain’s position, insisted the Iranian official, constitutes “interference in the internal affairs and incitement to the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The ministry told the Norwegian ambassador that it did not welcome the positions taken by the Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament regarding events in Iran. Sigvald Hauge was handed a “strongly worded” protest over the “biased and baseless” statements of the Speaker, Iranian-born Masud Gharahkhani. His comments were described as “unconstructive” and they too constituted “interference in Iran’s internal affairs”.

Both ambassadors confirmed that they would convey Tehran’s protest to London and Oslo respectively.

Iranian media confirmed last Friday that the death toll in the protests against the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini had reached 35. However a European human rights NGO said that the real number was nearer 50. Protests erupted across Iran on 16 September, following the death of Amini three days after she was arrested by the “morality police”, who monitor women’s dress code in the country.

READ: Iran arrests journalists, activists over Mahsa Amini death