“Mr. Nicholas Hopton was appointed the British Chargé d’Affaires to the Islamic Republic of Iran, in succession to Mr. Ajay Sharma in December 2015,” had said the official website for British Foreign Secretary. Yet, Mehr News Agency has been informed by sources who spoke to MNA on condition of anonymity that Hopton has reportedly received official reprimand from No. 10 Downing Street for 'misconduct in providing correct information to London.'
The reprimand apparently comes after a BBC report on Iran's upcoming elections of Assembly of Experts which stirred strong criticism across Iran and was reportedly based on information communicated from the embassy to London. It was the subject of a BBC Persian Radio program ‘Morning View,’ aired daily 7-9 AM Tehran local time. The program discussed the possibility of boycotting specific high-profile candidates of Assembly of Experts elections who constitute the hard core of the Principlist list in Tehran. Hossein Bastani, called by the presenter as ‘Iran affairs expert and political analyst,’ examined the ‘numerical possibility’ of relegating these high-profile candidates down in the final table in Tehran constituency where 16 representatives will sit in crimson seats of the former Parliament building which now hosts Assembly’s annual meetings.
However, the program immediately received response by many Iranian officials and figures along with the public as well as the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, who warned about ‘the circles who undermine the authenticity of the Guardian Council’ and hence the authenticity of the Parliament to be formed by such election results. Ayatollah Khamenei’s response dealt directly the BBC program in general and in particular domestic sympathetic circles to the program.
SH/3563147