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HE region's leading university should have its funding cut as a punishment for taking "blood money" from Iran, the government was told yesterday.

Robert Halfon, a Conservative MP, also demanded an urgent investigation into Durham University's link with a "despotic regime that tyrannises their own people".

In a parliamentary motion, the MP - who has hounded several British universities which received funding from the Gaddafi regime in Libya - turned his attention to other Middle East dictatorships.

Mr Halfon said Durham University had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian government's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.