After nearly four years, Britain reopened its Embassy in Tehran this week. Attending the opening ceremony was UK Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, who is the most senior British official to visit Iran in the past decade.
After opening the British Embassy in Tehran, Hammond said the Iranian government had displayed a more nuanced approach than its predecessor to a long-running conflict with Israel.
Speaking to Iran’s Fars news agency, Hossein Sheikholeslam, the Iranian Parliament Speaker’s Adviser for International Affairs and a former Iranian ambassador responded to Hammond’s comments by saying, “Our positions against the usurper Zionist regime have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated and this is our ultimate slogan.”
He then cited and dismissed a statement Hammond made saying hostilities between Iran and the UK should be forgotten. “Tehran will never forget the past and Britain’s colonialist moves,” he said.
During his speech Hammond clearly stated that Iran would not be judged on its words, but by its actions. However, these words should be cause for concern, especially when they come from a government official.
They should be taken even more seriously when they come from the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Kemeini, who is effectively the head of the Iranian regime. Earlier this month he said he supports “anyone who fights Israel.”
Here are his words courtesy of Ayatollah Khamenei’s official twitter account.
We spare no opportunity to support anyone #FightingTheZionists. pic.twitter.com/dQx5rD6JMI
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) August 17, 2015
Since Iran can’t be judged on its words, let’s look at its actions. Iran’s current actions make it the world leader of state sponsored terrorism. Iran’s current actions make it one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. And yet, these actions were not even discussed during the Iran nuclear “negotiations”.
Please pray for the protection of British Embassy staff in Tehran. And Continue to pray that America REJECTS the Iran Nuclear Deal, as it seems our European governments have accepted it unconditionally.
We must also continue to pray that world leaders have their eyes open to the truth. Because, as far as we can tell, they walked into this deal with their ears closed to what is being said and their eyes closed to the reality of Iran’s actions.
Christians United for Israel UK
