TIMELINE-Ups and downs in British-Iranian ties

Published: 12 Oct 2009 06:28:24 PST

Oct 12 - Britain froze business ties with an Iranian bank and state-run shipping firm on Monday, citing fears they were involved in helping the Islamic Republic to develop nuclear weapons.

Following is a timeline of British-Iranian relations in the last 20 years.

Feb 14, 1989 - Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calls on all Muslims to kill British author Salman Rushdie for blasphemy against Islam in his book "The Satanic Verses". Britain pulls out mission staff in protest.

March 7 - Iran breaks diplomatic relations with Britain.

September 1990 - Partial diplomatic relations are restored to the level of deputy head of mission or charge d'affaires.

April 28, 1994 - Britain accuses Iran of having secret contacts with the outlawed Irish Republican Army, which Iran denies. Iran and Britain later expel diplomats over the IRA row.

Sept 24, 1998 - Iran formally dissociates itself from the death edict against Rushdie.

May 18, 1999 - Iran says relations between Tehran and Britain have been upgraded to ambassadorial level.

Jan 10, 2000 - Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi visits London, the first official visit by an Iranian minister since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Sept 24, 2001 - British Foreign Minister Jack Straw visits Iran to bolster an international "anti-terror" coalition after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

June 21, 2004 - Iran arrests six Royal Marines and two naval personnel -- part of the U.S.-led force in Iraq -- for straying into its waters. They are released after negotiations.

Oct 12, 2005 - Prime Minister Tony Blair says there is evidence that Iran or the Iran-backed Lebanese militia group Hezbollah was the source of sophisticated technology used in roadside bombs against British soldiers in Iraq. Iran denies any involvement.

Oct 16 - Iran's president accuses Britain of being behind twin bombings that killed six people in southwestern Iran a day earlier, a charge that Britain denies.

March 23, 2007 - Iranian forces seize eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines, in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq.

April 4 - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will free the 15 as a "gift" but scolds Britain for not being "brave enough" to admit they had made a mistake and strayed into Iranian waters. They arrive back in Britain the next day.

June 24, 2007 - Iran's parliament speaker says the award of a British knighthood to author Salman Rushdie, was a shameless act.

June 12, 2009 - Iran holds presidential election, after which incumbent President Ahmadinejad declares victory despite street protests and accusations of vote-rigging

June 18, 2009 - Britain says it has frozen total Iranian assets of almost a billion pounds ($1.6 billlion) under sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

June 19 - Britain protests to Iran over a speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who called Britain "the most treacherous" of Iran's enemies. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned violence and media curbs in Iran after the disputed June 12 presidential election led to days of protests.

June 23 - Britain expels two Iranian diplomats after Iran forces two British diplomats to leave.

June 28 - Authorities in Tehran detain eight local British embassy staff for involvement in the post-election unrest, the semi-official Fars news agency says. Britain calls the arrests "harassment and intimidation", and demands their release.

July 19 - Iran releases on bail the last of Britain's local embassy workers, chief analyst Hossein Rassam, who was detained after unrest following the June presidential vote.

Aug. 4 - Brown will not congratulate Ahmadinejad on his second term as Iran's president but Britain will send its ambassador to Ahmadinejad's swearing-in, officials say.

Sept. 23 - Iran faces tougher international sanctions if it chooses to "isolate itself from the international community" over its nuclear programme, Brown says.

Oct 1 - Iran and six world powers, including Britain, reach a deal that will move most of its enriched uranium out of the country after talks in Switzerland.

Oct 12 - Britain orders financial firms to halt all business relations with Iran's Bank Mellat and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines amid concerns they were involved in helping to develop nuclear weapons.