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January 13th (Telegraph UK) - A group of Iranian MPs is demanding that the country cut its diplomatic ties with Britain in a sign of the country's deteriorating relations with the West.
The proposal, backed by up to 40 members of the Iranian parliament, came as Iran continued to accuse America and Israel of orchestrating the murder of a nuclear physicist on Tuesday.
Iranian leaders regularly accuse Britain of being the "Little Satan" to the American "Great Satan". They have also been particularly enraged by the leading role the Foreign Office has played in both urging sanctions over the country's nuclear programme and in protesting at the treatment of pro-opposition demonstrators following last year's presidential election.
The Iranian Speaker, Ari Larijani, said international relations were the responsibility of foreign policy and national security commission.
The commission described the proposal as "hasty" but said it would consider it.
Meanwhile more evidence has emerged of the links forged between the murdered physicist, Dr Moussad Ali-Mohammadi, and opposition groups.
Friends said he had been a committed supporter of the revolution but had been driven into the arms of the reform movement by the treatment of universities and students by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"After June 15's opposition rally, he told me that his students had asked if they should participate," said Ahmad Shirzab, another physics professor who is also a prominent reformist. "He replied: 'I do not know what our duty is, but I personally will be there,' and then his students gave him a standing ovation."
According to the basij militia, however, he had taught at the Imam Hossein University in Tehran, which is linked to the Revolutionary Guard, and had been put on an international sanctions list for his role in Iran's nuclear programme. No independent evidence has emerged of this.
