Iranian foreign minister wants British troops out of Iraq

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Iran's foreign minister demanded the immediate withdrawal of British forces in Basra, saying Friday they had destabilized the southern Iraqi city near the Iranian border.

Wrapping up a three-day visit to Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Minister Manushehr Mottaki said Iran supported the "current political process in Iraq," but he urged the incoming government to control the "escalating terrorism" targeting Iraqi civilians and to push for an immediate pullout of U.S.-led multinational forces.

"We believe that the presence of the British forces in Basra has destabilized security in this city and has had some negative effects in the form of threats against southern Iran recently," Mottaki said.

Basra is about 22 miles from a southern Iranian province that witnessed riots and bombings last year allegedly connected to Iran's Arab minority. Iran has blamed British intelligence for some of the bombings, a charge which Britain denies.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran demands an immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra," Mottaki told reporters after talks with his Lebanese counterpart.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was visiting Germany, told reporters in Berlin: "What I would say to the Iranians is that there is no point in trying to divert attention from the issues to do with Iran by calling into question the British presence in Iraq, which is there with a U.N. mandate and Iraqi support."

Mottaki's allegations seemed to be spurred by the recent publicity given to a video of what appeared to be British soldiers assaulting young Iraqi boys after a street confrontation in January 2004 in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, about 100 miles north of Basra. The British army has launched an investigation and arrested two individuals.

Mottaki said British forces had behaved in an "inhuman and immoral manner that constituted a flagrant violation of human rights" against young Iraqis.

During his visit to Lebanon, Mottaki held talks with President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and other senior officials.

"We have expressed our conviction that after Iraq's new government is formed by Ibrahim al-Jaafari, this government must act to deal with two issues very important for Iraq's future and fate: Iraqi security authorities must confront the escalating terrorism that targets innocent Iraqis daily and in a bloody way, and to put an immediate end to the American occupation of Iraqi territories," Mottaki said.

He also branded as "major lies" the U.S. accusations that Iran was trying to secretly develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program aims only to generate electricity.

Mottaki said the three European countries -- Britain, France and Germany -- that had earlier acknowledged Iran's "legitimate, just, and natural right" to the peaceful application of nuclear power had shifted their position under U.S. pressure.

On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy accused Iran of secretly making nuclear weapons.

Mottaki said Friday that his government has decided "the final say on Iran's peaceful nuclear program does not belong to the United States or the Europeans, but to the Islamic Republic of Iran."