Iranian leaders accuse Britain of stoking protests
Updated
Iran's leaders have been quick to blame outside influences for the street protests.
They've singled out the UK as the "most evil" of Western governments, accusing Britain of flying in agents before the election to interfere with the vote.
The British Government denies meddling in Iran's affairs.
Presenter: Emma Alberici, Europe Correspondent
Speaker: Manouchehr Mottaki, Iranian Foreign Minister; Sir Richard Dalton, former British Ambasaador to Iran; Jon Leyne, BBC correspondent in Iran
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ALBERICI: The official narrative coming from Iranian authorities is that violence is being perpetrated by terrorists with links to foreign powers.
Iran's Foreign Minister blamed Britain.. he accused the UK of a plot to sabotage the presidential vote and said that a number of Britons including secret service personnel had entered Iran prior to voting
MANOUCHEHR MOTTAKI: (translated) We witnessed some newcomers from Britain to the Islamic republic of Iran... certain people with certain plans travelled to Iran from Britain... related to the intelligence they wanted to come here to see to have certain effects
ALBERICI: On Friday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei singled out the UK as the most evil of western governments in a statement posted on his website overnight, president ahmadinejad pointed again to the alleged meddling by the UK and the US.
He said: "by making hasty comments, you will not have a place in the circle of the Iranian nations' friends... therefore i recommend you to correct your interfering positions."
Claims that protests in Iran over its disputed elections were orchestrated by the UK have been rejected by foreign secretary David Miliband .. he issued a statement adding that the allegations were without foundation he also said that the blame being heaped on foreigners was no excuse for the treatment of demonstrators inside Iran.
Reports of the deaths of ten further protesters in Tehran over the weekend would "raise the level of concern around the world."
Sir Richard Dalton was the British ambassador in Iran from 2002 to 2006.
DALTON: They have been disappointed that the strong discouragement that they've put out, to people who come out on the streets, with warnings of very firm reaction if they did things which were illegal, haven't worked, and people have still poured out in their hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, it's important to convince the many supporters of the victorious candidate that there is an explanation for what has happened. It's absolutely familiar for the leader to look at foreign powers and to complain that there's meddling and intrerference.
(Sound of TV news)
ALBERICI: Foreign media is not allowed to cover unauthorised gatherings in iran and they can't move around freely but, until now, there has been no restriction on what they can say
(Audio of BBC correspondent Jon Leyne)
ALBERICI: That's Jon Leyne - he's the permanent correspondent in Tehran for the UK's public broadcaster , the BBC. Overnight, the Iranian state news agency, announced that he's been expelled from the country. Jon Leyne was given 24 hours to leave Iran. The news agency said that he had been "supporting" the protesters.
