TEHRAN, Oct 18: Tea imported into Iran from India and Sri Lanka is impure and Tehran should instead buy its favourite refreshment from Muslim countries like Indonesia, an MP was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

“There are doubts over the religious purity of the tea produced in India and Sri Lanka,” Ali Zadsar, a religious figure and deputy from the southeastern city of Jiroft, told the Toseh newspaper.

“We have to be careful. Ninety per cent of Sri Lankans are Buddhists, and only 20 per cent of Indians are Muslims and there are only few of these Muslims involved in this industry,” he complained.

The hardline MP said Indonesia would be a safer bet for Iranian tea drinkers, given that ‘90 per cent of its population are Muslims and they have less hygiene problems’.

“It is very simplistic to think that the ‘tea mafia’ ships us good quality tea,” Mr Zadsar said.

He also complained that ‘80 per cent of the world’s tea industry is in the hands of the British’ — who many Iranians believe are engaged in a long-running conspiracy against their country.

Iran produces 58,000 tons of tea a year, but an additional 75,000 tons of mostly Sri Lankan and Indian teas are smuggled into the tightly protected market every year.

Iranian tea farmers have blamed imports for a decline in the national industry.—AFP