Laurent Lozano, Agence France Presse  --  Arab News

TEHRAN, 24 May 2004 — Iran has sent a “formal warning” to the United States over American policy in neighboring Iraq, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said yesterday, as he branded Washington immoral and deceitful.

The situation in Iraq is serious and this is why we have addressed the necessary warning,” he told a press conference.

Iran has voiced alarm in recent days over fighting around the cities of Najaf and Karbala between US-led coalition forces and the militia of Moqtada Sadr, for which it blames the United States.

It opposed the invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, with which it fought an eight-year war in the 1980s, and has called for the US-led coalition to withdraw rapidly and hand back power to the Iraqis.

Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran and the warning — the first to be made public at least since the Iraq war began — was passed by diplomatic channels through the Swiss Embassy here, which represents US interests in Iran. “We want several things for Iraq, the most important of which are the departure of the occupation forces as quickly as possible and the restitution of authority to the Iraqi people themselves,” Asefi said.

The United States accuses Iran of influencing Iraq’s Shiite majority to destabilize the country, and allowing foreign fighters to cross its borders into Iraq.

Asefi also insisted that the People’s Mujahedeen, the main armed opposition organization to the Islamic republic, be expelled from Iraq, where they have been held in a base under US guard. “They should have already been expelled from Iraq, though they are still under American protection,” Asefi said. “What we see here is the hypocrisy and immoral approach of the Americans.”

Asefi said the situation in Iraq had changed following “the torture of prisoners” by US troops and “attacks on the holy places.”

He dismissed US allegations that Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi spied for Iran as unfounded and designed to divert attention from Washington’s problems in Iraq. “These espionage allegations are obviously lacking any foundations,” he said. “This lie is part of US foreign policy.”

“The Americans are trying to cover up their massive problems, owing to their political unilateralism and their refusal to listen to the opinions of others.”

Iranians Clash With Riot Police

Demonstrators attempting to storm the British Embassy in Tehran yesterday clashed with riot police guarding the building in the fourth such incident in a week, an AFP journalist witnessed. Some 400 students pelted stones at the embassy, demanding the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq and the expulsion of the British ambassador.

Hundreds of police formed a cordon around the embassy to stop the demonstrators approaching. The protesters who gathered after a call by militias at universities tried to force their way past the cordon around the embassy in the center of the capital.

They called for the embassy to be closed and British Ambassador Richard Dalton to be expelled. “Go home,” they chanted. The students were eventually pushed back by the riot police, although two powerful firecrackers exploded against the building.

Meanwhile, Iran’s outgoing reformist Parliament has appealed to the country’s top arbitration body to settle a dispute with hard liners over the definition of political crimes, a reformist deputy said yesterday.