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Iranian leader forces British Council to close

The British Council offices in Tehran have been shut down on the orders of the Iranian President.
Council officials said yesterday that its work in the country had been suspended after “cases of intimidation of our local staff”. Two former employees told The Times that they had been forced to resign after being summoned to the offices of President Ahmadinejad in December. “The warning was polite, but we felt it was serious this time,” said the former employee, who did not want to be identified. “We had to resign.”
The closure of the offices came after months of harassment and intimidation. In August a conference to promote academic exchanges between Iran and Britain was cancelled at the last minute on the instructions of the Intelligence Ministry, The Times has learnt.
“There are no winners here,” Martin Davidson, the British Council chief executive, said. “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.”

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, urged Tehran to reconsider. "The British Council has announced that it has been forced to suspend its operation in Iran because of unacceptable pressure put on its staff by the Iranian Government," he said. "It is a matter of regret that a country with Iran's culture should reject attempts to break down barriers and build cultural dialogue."
According to the employees Iran began to obstruct the council's activities in July 2006. "Our Iranian partners received warnings from the authorities and were asked to cut any ties with the council," one said. "The authorities said the British Council did not have a legal standing and operated as the cultural section of the British Embassy, and that a diplomatic mission could not make money through its educational activities."
The Iranian Embassy in London said that "no contract between the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Britain has been signed on the British Council's activities in Tehran, and any activities under this name are considered as illegal".



Original Article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5671766.ece