December 12, The Iran Project – A number of Iranian parliamentarians developed a plan to downgrade diplomatic relations with Britain and submitted it to the Majlis board of directors.

Following British Prime Minister Theresa May’s meddlesome remarks at the summit of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran’s parliament (Majlis) developed a plan to reduce diplomatic relations with Britain, said Mohsen Kouhkan, an Iranian lawmaker on Monday.

Stressing a reasonable response to the UK thoughtless remarks against Iran, Kouhkan asked to downgrade the diplomatic ties between Tehran and London to the level of chargé d’affaires.

If any country takes position against Iran, It will be firmly respond, he warned.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi also emphasized that Theresa May’s “irresponsible, provocative and divisive” comments at the regional annual summit were “unacceptable and rejected.”

Speaking at the annual summit of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council in the Bahraini capital of Manama on Wednesday, May said Britain would help the GCC states “push back” against what she claimed to be Iran’s “aggressive regional actions.”

Earlier, a senior Iranian lawmaker urged Britain to refrain from taking any measure which would once again prompt the Iranian legislative branch to scale down the level of diplomatic ties with London.

Britain reopened its embassy in Tehran in August 2015 as a sign of improvement of mutual ties between the two countries after hundreds of Iranian students staged a protest outside the embassy in 2011, censuring the expansion of UK sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The European country had shut down its embassy in Tehran in November 2011, withdrawing its diplomatic staff after hundreds of Iranian students staged a protest outside the British embassy in Tehran against the expansion of UK sanctions on Iran, pulling down the UK flag and demanding the expulsion of the British ambassador.

In late November 2011, Iran’s Parliament approved a bill to downgrade the diplomatic ties between Tehran and London to the level of chargé d’affaires, and limit all economic and cultural collaborations to the minimum level.

Nearly two years after their diplomatic ties were severed, Iran and Britain agreed in October 2013 to appoint non-resident chargés d’affaires as a first step toward re-establishment of their ties.

Iran and Britain upgraded their ties back to the ambassador level in September, in another sign of warming relations between the two countries.