10, January 2018
UK says Iran’s domestic affairs ‘none of our business’ 0
The United Kingdom’s ambassador to Iran says the Islamic Republic’s domestic affairs, including recent riots, are none of his country’s business and that the UK will stay out of Iranian internal affairs.
Ambassador Nicholas Hopton made the remarks in a gathering titled “Europe and the Geopolitical Affairs of West Asia,” which was being hosted by Iranian think tank the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday evening.
Some two weeks ago, some peaceful protests were held in Iranian cities against price hikes and the overall economic condition of the country. Limited numbers of violent individuals, some of them armed, later sought to turn the peaceful protests into street riots. However, the original protesters soon heeded calls by authorities to leave the streets so that their legitimate activities would not play into the hands of violent rioters.
While sporadic violence continued for several days — and claimed the lives of over a dozen people — the riots gradually ended.
In the course of those events, some British media outlets provided controversial coverage of the developments.
Hopton sought to distance the British government away from such coverage. He said the British media made their own editorial decisions and the UK government “exercised no control” over them.
He did express concern about some of the coverage of the events in Iran by the media in his country, however.
“The position held by the British government is that Iran’s domestic affairs are the concern of the country [itself]. The Iranian people should decide for themselves and freedom of expression and the freedom to express protest are the rights of the people,” he said.
“What the protesters seek is none of our and the British government’s business, and the UK government will not interfere,” he stressed.
Last Thursday, it was reported that Iran’s Embassy in London had submitted a letter of complaint to the British media regulator Ofcom, denouncing the propaganda campaign launched by UK-based Persian-language broadcasters covering the riots.
The letter, the source said, pointed out that the outlets had acted in clear contravention of the British and international media regulations by trying to incite the protesters in Iran to resort to riots and armed violence.
London ‘committed to JCPOA’
Elsewhere in his remarks, Hopton said London was “fully” committed to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six other countries on the Iranian nuclear program.
The agreement removed nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran, which, in turn, applied certain limits to its nuclear energy program.
The British ambassador pointed to the likelihood that the United States may unilaterally withdraw from the deal and said he hoped US President Donald Trump would make the right decision.
Trump faces a Friday deadline to announce whether he would certify Iranian compliance with the deal under domestic US law. He has once certified that compliance but decertified it another time. He sees the deal as a legacy of his predecessor — former president Barack Obama — that he should undo.
The United Nations and every other party to the deal have warned Washington against trying to harm the deal, calling it a triumph for diplomacy and a contributing factor to regional and international peace and security.
10, January 2018
Roberto Mancini open to coaching Italy after FIFA World Cup 0
Zenit Saint-Petersburg coach Roberto Mancini said Tuesday he was open to taking over the vacant job as Italy national football coach.
Mancini, 53, is being touted along with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte and former Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti to take the reins of the demoralized four-time World Cup winners.
Giampiero Ventura was fired as coach last November days after Italy’s shock failure to reach the World Cup final for the first time in 60 years.
Finding Ventura’s successor has been complicated because the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has to elect a president to replace Carlo Tavecchio, who was also forced to resign.
Former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan boss Ancelotti – a three-time Champions League winner – had been Tavecchio’s choice.
But the 56-year-old, free since his sacking by Bayern Munich last year, has said he would prefer to stay in club management.
Former Juventus boss Conte, 48, coached Italy from 2014 before joining Chelsea in 2016, winning the Premier League in his first season.
Conte revealed last year that he misses Italy and plans to return to his homeland in the near future.
“Italy is my homeland, so once I have had some good experiences, formative experiences, important and life-changing experiences, I’ll be back. I don’t know when but that’s the aim,” he said in September.
The FIGC on Monday agreed their budget for 2018 and have set aside 5 million euro ($5.6m) to pay the new coach, despite a projected deficit of 9 million euros for the year, according to press reports.
Three candidates have their hat in the ring for FIGC presidency – former Italy and Roma star Damiano Tommasi, now head of the Italian Players’ Union; Italian Professional League president Gabriele Gravina and FIGC vice-president Cosimo Sibilia.
The election for president will take place on January 29.
(Source: Agence France Presse)