British Council suspends operations in Iran

LONDON. February 6. KAZINFORM. The British Council said on Thursday that it had suspended its operations in Iran due to "intimidation" by the Iranian authorities.

"It is with great regret that, on Jan. 31, 2009, the British Council suspended its operations in Tehran after eight years of building cultural and educational links between the people of the UK and Iran," the Council said in a statement. In the last week of December, most of the sixteen locally-appointed members of staff were summoned for interviews at the Iranian Office of the President, where it was suggested to them that they should resign from their posts with the British Council, said the Council, which is a British organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations worldwide. "This follows on from an incident where two members of staff had their passports confiscated after attempting to leave the country to go to a routine meeting." said the statement; Kazinform cites Xinhua. Martin Davidson, chief executive of the British Council, said: "These actions by the Iranian authorities are unacceptable. They are designed to pressurize our staff with the clear intention of stopping our cultural and educational work in the country." "There are no winners here. Our staff in Iran have lost their jobs; our Iranian partners have lost opportunities to work with the UK; and young people in Iran and the UK have lost the chance to build links that can last a lifetime," said Davidson. "I am disappointed that the Iranian authorities have chosen to cut educational and cultural ties with the UK at the very time when they can be of most value," he said. He noted that the Council was committed to building stronger cultural and educational ties between Iran and the UK. "I am now looking for the opportunity to discuss with the Iranian authorities an agreement that will allow us to resume our work there in the future." he added. The British foreign secretary also urged Iran to enable the Council to resume normal operations as soon as possible. "It is a matter of great regret that a country with Iran's culture should reject attempts to break down barriers and build cultural dialogue," said Miliband. "The people of Iran do not want to be isolated from the world ... So I hope the Iranian government will enable the British Council to resume normal operations as soon as possible," he said. The British Council is a non-political cultural relations organization that works in more than 100 countries worldwide to connect millions of people with the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas.