@@ Iran's press calls for cutting UK ties @@
Arash
October 18, 2005
Iran's press calls for cutting UK ties
Tehran - Iran's leading hardline newspapers on Monday called on the government to cut
diplomatic ties with Britain after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused London of
being behind deadly weekend bombings in southern Iran.
Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran was "very suspicious about the role of British
forces" in the twin blasts in southern city of Ahvaz on Saturday, which killed six
people and wounded 100.
Kayhan (http://www.kayhannews.ir/840726/2.htm), one of Iran's four leading hardline
newspapers, called on the government to reconsider its ties with London.
The influential newspaper's editor-in-chief was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters.
"Tolerating imposed crisis is against our dignity", Kayhan said in an editorial. "We
should start with mild reactions like closing the British embassy and eventually
sever the ties".
Local authorities said police defused a large bomb, hidden under a bridge, in Ahvaz
on Monday.
"When police was investigating in Ahvaz, they found a bag full of explosive
material", a local authority spokesman said.
Authorities said no one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, denying reports
that one suspect had been arrested and confessed to receiving training from Britain.
But the hardline Siyasat-e Rouz newspaper accused Britain of masterminding the
bombings.
"It is clear that Britain is behind the southern Iran bombings", the daily said in an
editorial. "Severing ties is the minimum we can do to prevent Britain's interference
in Iran".
Many politicians have said the presence of 8000 British troops in neighboring Iraq
was the root cause of this year's violence in Khuzestan and accused them of training
and aiding Arab terrorists to carry out the attacks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051018/wl_nm/iran_britain_dc_8