Channel 4 News - Foreign Secretary on situation in Iran

17 Jun 2009

Foreign Secretary David Miliband was interviewed on Channel 4 News on the situation in Iran, 17 June 2009.

Speaker:	Foreign Secretary David Milibad
Location:	Channel 4 News

Foreign Secretary David Miliband was interviewed on Channel 4 News on the situation in Iran, 17 June 2009.

Read the transcript

Jon Snow (JS): Well earlier the British Ambassador in Tehran was called in for a dressing down by the Iranian authorities amid claims of Western interference in their internal affairs. But that accusation of meddling was roundly rejected tonight by the State Department in Washington.

Well the Foreign Secretary David Miliband joins us now live from Westminster. Foreign Secretary I don’t know what happens in these diplomatic moments. What, what happened to the Ambassador and what’s our reaction?

David Miliband (DM): Good evening. The Ambassador was called in by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I’ve spoken to our Ambassador in Tehran this afternoon or early evening. There, the, the Foreign Affairs Ministry are very unhappy about the British media coverage in our country of what’s been happening in Iran and they were protesting about that, above all the BBC, but all of the media coverage. We tried to explain to them that in the nicest possible way the British Government doesn’t control the media and that the reports that have been happening reflect first of all the reality of what’s going on on the ground and also the enormous amount of interest that there is around the world in what’s happening in Iran.

And so this is, obviously, a very clear point that the Ambassador made to his colleagues in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

JS: We do have a very central difficulty and that is that in fact we don’t have a clue whether Ahmadinejad did in fact lose the election or win it.

DM: It’s certainly true that none of us have and accurate assessment. We know, to be fair, that in the, five years ago President Ahmadinejad actually did better than anyone expected, he had reservoirs of support, notably in the poorer parts of Iran. But equally we saw massive support for Mr Mousavi in the latter stages of the election campaign not just in Tehran but elsewhere.
I think the most important thing is that we take our cue from what’s going on inside Iran. This is not a split between Iran and the West, these are deep debates, even divisions that are happening within Iran and in some ways within the upper reaches of the regime. I think it’s important for viewers to know that Mr Mousavi was a close colleague of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, he was the Prime Minister from 81 to 89, so he’s someone from the heart of the regime and it’s a debate and a division within that regime that I think has electrified media and political comment around the world.

JS: Who then tonight do you think that you’re actually relating to? I mean the Foreign Ministry is actually not a very senior organ of state, does the British Government know precisely who it is actually relating to?

DM: Well yes I think that everybody understands that in Iran the role of the Supreme Leader is absolutely key. There are obviously a range of other bodies, the Guardian Council, the Expediency Council as well and then the Government. But, obviously, the election of a president is an important moment for the country.

We’ve said all along that it must be for the Iranian people to choose their own Government, the will of the people needs to be seen through. It’s for the Iranian authorities to address that. Second …

JS: Well I, this is surely a very difficult point because what, what’s happening in the blogosphere is that people are pleading with the outside world to support them, to, they want to hear you support them for example, that is, in fact, something you can’t do.

DM: No I can, I can very clearly say that we want to see the will of the Iranian people respected. What I, the trap I won’t fall in to, and President Obama’s been clear about this, our Prime Minister has been clear about this, we will not fall in to the trap of allowing anyone to say that Britain or the United States is trying to choose the Government of Iran, that we’re siding with one side or another, one individual or another.

The memory of 1953, the demonisation of Britain and the end of the Mosaddeq Government in 1953 …

JS: The justified demonisation.

DM: … justified in many ways, the demon, not demonisation but certainly profound mistakes were made in 1953. That is used in Iran to blame any opposition on the US and the UK significantly. Even today many of the demonstrators are being attacked, sometimes in the blogosphere, sometimes officially, as being puppets of foreign powers, as being, having their strings pulled by foreign powers. We are not going to fall in to that trap. We’re going to say very clearly first it’s for the Iranian people to choose their own Government, the will of the people needs to come out.

Secondly we will say very clearly that we deplore the violence and especially the loss of life but we will not end up in a position where anyone can accuse the US or the UK or any Western power of trying to choose the Iranian Government, that’s not our job.

JS: Foreign Secretary thank you very much indeed for joining us.

DM: Thank you.