Iran summoned the British ambassador to Tehran to protest what it called “baseless accusations”, state media said on Thursday, after a London court jailed two people for a knife attack it said was carried out at Iran’s behest.
“Following the repetition of false and baseless accusations by British officials against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country’s ambassador in Tehran was summoned to the ministry, and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s protest against the British government’s inappropriate approach towards the Iranian nation was conveyed to him,” the official IRNA news agency said on Thursday.
Two Romanians, convicted of a 2024 knife attack on an Iranian journalist outside his London home “on behalf of” Iran, were sentenced last week to 12 and eight years in prison respectively.
At the sentencing, the judge said the evidence “overwhelmingly points” to the attack on Pouria Zeraati, a news presenter for Persian-language outlet Iran International, having been carried out on behalf of the Iranian government.
British security minister Angela Eagle said following the sentencing that the “abhorrent attack” was “carried out on behalf of Iran” and “we will continue to hold the regime to account”.
