Press TV - Iran�s envoy to the United Kingdom has slammed Western intelligence services for pressuring Iranian dual citizens, especially women and the elderly, in order to obtain sensitive information.
�Unfortunately, intelligence services in the West, especially using indirect ways, pressure certain Iranian dual citizens to obtain particular data and information,� Hamid Baeidinejad said in a Thursday tweet.
�Iranian nationals love their country, but they may sometimes do that [what the West wants them to] assuming those data are not confidential,� he went on to say.
Baeidinejad said �Western countries must stop putting such pressure on certain Iranian nationals, especially the elderly and women.�
In his Thursday tweet,�Baeidinejad stressed that all Iranian dual citizens are free to visit their country, and should not have any concern about that.
�Iran deeply believes � Iranian nationals should keep their strong bonds with their homeland� and tries to help them �travel to their motherland for tourism, visiting their families, and doing business without having any concern."
The UK Foreign Office recently issued a rare warning to all Iranian-British dual nationals against traveling to�Iran�unless they have an urgent reason to do so.
�There is a risk that British nationals�and a higher risk that British/Iranian dual nationals�could be arbitrarily detained in Iran. All British nationals should consider carefully the risks of travelling to Iran," a travel notice by the UK Foreign Office said.
"The Iranian government does not recognize dual nationality. So if a dual national is detained, our ability to provide support is extremely limited,� a Foreign Office spokesperson�said.
This drew an immediate reaction from Baeidinejad who rejected the Foreign Office's portray of threats against dual nationality Iranians.
He�emphasized that no one�is prosecuted by the Islamic Republic merely for dual citizenship.
"Iranian authorities have repeatedly given assurances that dual citizenship per se is not considered a crime or violation of law, and no one is prosecuted [in Iran] for that reason," Hamid Baeidinejad said in a Thursday tweet.
The British government has been using dual nationals for subversive actions against the Islamic Republic - what officials in Tehran say is part of a 'soft war' pushed ahead against the country by London.
The establishment of the Persian service of the BBC which is meant to launch a disinformation campaign against the Islamic Republic is seen by Iranian officials as a key front of the same 'soft war'.
Iranian intelligence authorities arrested Zaghari�at the Imam Khomeini International Airport on April 3, 2016�on her way to London after it became clear that she had run an illegal course to recruit and train people for the Persian service of the BBC.