Teheran hammered home its message by ordering the expulsion of BBC correspondent Jon Leyne just two days after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) accused Britain of adopting an 'evil' position in the face of a week of deadly protests. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
TEHERAN - IRAN accused Britain and the United States on Sunday of meddling in its affairs and tightened the screws on foreign news coverage of the election protests and street clashes shaking the country.
Teheran hammered home its message by ordering the expulsion of BBC correspondent Jon Leyne just two days after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Britain of adopting an 'evil' position in the face of a week of deadly protests.
Newsweek, meanwhile, reported that a Canadian journalist, Maziar Bahari, who has worked for the New York-based magazine in Iran for a decade, was 'detained without charge by Iranian authorities and has not been heard from since.'
'Newsweek strongly condemns this unwarranted detention, and calls upon the Iranian government to release him immediately,' it said in a statement.
The actions came as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed victory in June 12 presidential elections has touched off a week-long wave of mass protests, took London and Washington to task in a statement on his website.
'By making hasty comments, you will not have a place in the circle of the Iranian nation's friends,' he said. 'Therefore, I recommend you to correct your interfering positions.'
Foreign Minister Manouchechr Mottaki also complained to foreign diplomats about Western interference, claiming that Britain had worked to sabotage the election. 'Great Britain has plotted against the presidential election for more than two years,' Mr Mottaki said, according to state-run Press TV. 'We witnessed an influx of people (from Britain) before the election. Elements linked to the British secret service were flying in in droves.'
Iran's supreme leader set the tone for the anti-Western diatribes on Friday as he made his first public appearance since Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed election.
'Today top diplomats of several Western countries who talked to us previously within diplomatic formalities are showing their real face and most of all, the evil British government,' Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Iranian authorities have restricted foreign media coverage of street protests in Teheran, where state media have said at least 17 people have been killed since the disturbances first broke out.
It was unclear what prompted the reported detention of the Newsweek journalist. 'Mr Bahari's coverage of Iran, for Newsweek and other outlets, has always been fair and nuanced, and has given full weight to all sides of the issues. He has worked well with different administrations in Teheran, including the current one,' the magazine said. -- AFP
