Tehran, September 13: After a turbulent path in relations between Tehran and London, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he hopes that the UK has learned from past “mistakes.”
“The Iranian nation will let no one interfere in its internal affairs. We hope the British government will correct its mistakes,” Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with the British ambassador to Tehran, Simon Gass, on Sunday.
“In the path of bolstering relations, we catch our eyes in future. As the ambassador, you carry the important mission to turn negative memories into positive,” the president said.
Relations between Tehran and London turned sour after Iran’s presidential election in June when the British government was accused of interfering in Iran’s interal affairs through instigating the post-vote unrest.
President Ahmadinejad had earlier claimed that Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, had predicted the demise of the Iranian state in the aftermath of election.
He had said that the hope of the enemy “was to direct and steer to victory, [their plans] to finish off Iran, in the same way that they could in other places, through color revolutions, with money, various media and expertise.”
On Sunday, Ahmadinejad also touched on the subject of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, saying the policies of UK and its allies had failed in the Middle East region.
“Although a military approach harms regional nations, it mostly inflicts damage to the US and British governments,” he said.
—–Agencies