A committee in Iran’s parliament voted on December 19 to cut diplomatic relations with Britain, a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for “cooperation“ with major powers.

The decision by parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee followed criticism by Britain’s ambassador to Tehran of Iran’s human rights record.

“After voting by the members of the committee, it was decided to have diplomatic relations completely severed with Britain,” lawmaker Mohammad Karami-rad said.

If the motion is backed by the full parliament it would put pressure on the government to downgrade relations with Britain at a time when a new foreign minister has called for “positive interaction” with the European Union.

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani has been a rival of Ahmadinejad’s since losing to him at the 2005 presidential election and the replacement of the foreign minister has fuelled tensions between the two men.

British Ambassador Simon Gass was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry on Monday after criticising Iran’s human rights record in an article on the embassy’s website.

Britain maintains a full embassy in Tehran unlike its ally the United States which has no relations with Iran.

Gass dismissed criticisms from lawmakers. “MPs claim to be offended by my Human Rights Day statement. But Iranian leaders regularly abuse other countries including UK,” he said in a message posted on Twitter, Reuters reported.