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Iran summoned the British ambassador again on Saturday, the 15th time a foreign ambassador has been summoned in less than three months, as protests rocked the country.
The Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Simon Shercliffe, a day after his German counterpart, Hans-Udo Müzel, appeared, state news agency IRNA said.
This brings to at least 15 times in about 10 weeks that Iran has summoned foreign ambassadors, almost all from Western countries.
“This is the reaction of Iranian diplomacy to the unprecedented pressure against Iran,” IRNA said.
Shercliffe has now been called five times since the protests began with the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22.
Amini died in custody on September 16 after being arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
Iran calls the protests “riots” and says they are encouraged by its foreign enemies.
IRNA said the Foreign Ministry protested the United Kingdom’s support for “terror and unrest” and opposed the sanctions imposed by it.
– ‘Anti-Iranian Action’ –
Iran also condemned Australia on Saturday for imposing new sanctions against individuals and organizations allegedly involved in Tehran protests.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani accused Canberra of “interfering in Iran’s internal affairs and inciting and promoting violence and hatred”.
Australia earlier on Saturday announced sanctions on several individuals and two entities, including Basij, a paramilitary force linked to Iran’s morality police and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The “new anti-Iranian crackdown” comes as the Australian government has “systematically violated the fundamental rights of Aboriginal Australians, prisoners and asylum seekers and also harbored elements of anti-Iranian terrorist and separatist groups”, Kanani said.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong accused Tehran of “blatant and widespread disregard for the human rights of its own people” in an opinion piece published early Saturday.
Meanwhile on Friday, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned German ambassador Muzel for the fourth time since September, IRNA said.
The ministry expressed its “strongest objection to Germany’s unacceptable intervention” after Berlin’s Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock criticized the “discreet summary trial” that sentenced protester Mohsen Shakari to death.
Iran executed Shekri on Thursday, in the first known execution linked to the protests, after he was convicted of blocking a street and wounding a member of the Basij paramilitary force during unrest in late September.
Germany has also summoned Iran’s ambassador, a diplomatic source said, while other Western governments have condemned Shakari’s execution, and some, including the UK, have imposed additional sanctions.
Iran has summoned the French representative twice and the ambassadors of Australia, Norway and Denmark have also been summoned.
Tehran’s Foreign Ministry commended the ambassadors for various reasons, including “an anti-Iranian stance on the protests” and “anti-Iranian propaganda” by media based in the countries, IRNA said.
After widespread international outcry over Shakari’s execution, Iran said it was exercising restraint both in the response of security forces and the “proportionality” of the judicial process.
Thousands of people have been arrested, and in late November a Revolutionary Guards general said more than 300 people had died, including dozens of members of the security forces.
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