Iran’s Parliament voted yesterday to expel the British ambassador in retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme and warned that other countries could also be punished.

Other countries may be punished

The Bill they adopted, which now has to go to the Guardians Council for approval, demands Iran’s ambassador to Britain also be withdrawn as diplomatic relations are reduced to the level of charge d’affaires.

Economic and trade relations with Britain, already meagre, would be pared “to the minimum” under the text, which requires the measures be effected within two weeks.

The lawmakers also raised the possibility of punishing “other countries that behave in a manner similar to that of Britain.”

“This is only the beginning,” parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani warned.

The session, carried live on state radio, saw 179 deputies vote in favour of the text, four against, and 11 abstain.

On Wednesday, when the Bill was introduced, Britain said “it would be regrettable” if its ambassador to Tehran, Dominick Chilcott, were to be expelled. Mr Chilcott took up his post last month.

Britain, whose City of London is the world’s biggest financial centre alongside New York, said on November 14 it was “ceasing all contact” between its financial system and that of Iran.

That measure, announced in coordination with similar sanctions by the US and Canada, came a week after a report by the UN atomic energy watchdog strongly suggesting Tehran was researching nuclear weapons.

Britain and Canada have embassies in Tehran. The US does not, having closed it after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. Canada’s mission is already headed only by a charge d’affaires.

Iran has dismissed the UN report as “baseless” and insists its nuclear programme is for entirely peaceful purposes.

Prior to Mr Chilcott taking up his post, the British mission in Tehran was run by the embassy’s charge d’affaires.

“We believe that it is important to maintain senior channels of communication and especially at times like these. It is only through dialogue that we can solve the problems we face,” a spokesman for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.