{"id":44691,"date":"2021-02-22T22:24:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T22:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44691"},"modified":"2021-02-22T22:24:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T22:24:16","slug":"rockets-target-us-embassy-in-iraqi-capital-baghdad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=44691","title":{"rendered":"Rockets target US embassy in Iraqi capital Baghdad"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"89\">\n<p>\nLONDON:\u00a0A cross-party group of British MPs has written to the government urging it to have the \u201ccourage\u201d to downgrade diplomatic relations with Tehran in response to the threat posed by Iran\u2019s state terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe letter, issued by the British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), said the case of Assadollah Assadi \u2014 an Iranian diplomat convicted of terrorism for trying to bomb an opposition rally in Paris in 2018 \u2014 is evidence that Tehran uses its diplomatic missions abroad as a cover for terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIran\u2019s decision to act as a pariah state and to use its diplomats to threaten the security of Europe and the life of its citizens must be met with maximum pressure and not maximum diplomacy by the EU and UK,\u201d the MPs and Lord Alton of Liverpool said in the letter.<\/p>\n<p>\nIn a separate statement, Lord Alton said the Assadi ruling and investigation \u201cshow beyond any doubt that this was an act of state terrorism by the regime in Iran against the country\u2019s organised pro-democracy opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), by targeting their conference, leader and supporters on European soil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nLord Alton denounced the invitation extended to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to speak at the virtual Europe-Iran Business Forum in March, and urged the UK to downgrade relations with Tehran and investigate its diplomatic mission in London for evidence of terrorist activity.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cA Global Britain must have the courage to take the lead in Europe to address the serious threats of Iran\u2019s state terrorism,\u201d the BCFIF said.<\/p>\n<p>\nIt added that until the UK has confronted the Iranian threat within the county, it should proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and sanction senior Iranian leaders such as Zarif and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n<p>\nAli Safavi, an official with the NCRI\u2019s Foreign Affairs Committee, told Arab News that \u201cthe concern over the Iranian regime\u2019s illicit and dangerous nuclear weapons program shouldn\u2019t dwarf other aspects of its malign and sinister behavior,\u201d including \u201cits renewed intelligence gathering and terrorist schemes on European soil.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\nHe said Tehran\u2019s terrorism in Europe, its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its human rights abuses at home and its expansionism across the Middle East \u201care part and parcel of the same policy and, as such, must be dealt with in their entirety. A piecemeal approach to all these nefarious actions will be to no avail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nHe added: \u201cIt\u2019s time for the EU to revise its policy vis-a-vis the ruling theocracy, and stand with the Iranian people and not with their oppressors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON:\u00a0A cross-party group of British MPs has written to the government urging it to have the \u201ccourage\u201d to downgrade diplomatic relations with Tehran in response to the threat posed by Iran\u2019s state terrorism. The letter, issued by the British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), said the case of Assadollah Assadi \u2014 an Iranian diplomat convicted&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}