UK closes Iran's London embassy

LONDON - Britain said on Wednesday it had ordered the immediate closure of Iran's embassy in London and is evacuating all embassy staff in Teheran after closing the embassy stormed by Iranian protesters a day earlier.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament: "The Iranian charge (d'affaires) in London is being informed now that we require the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London and that all Iranian diplomatic staff must leave the United Kingdom within the next 48 hours.

"We have now closed the British embassy in Teheran. We have decided to evacuate all our staff and as of the last few minutes, the last of our UK-based staff have now left Iran," he said.

This does not amount to the severing of diplomatic relations in its entirety. It is an action that reduces UK's relations with Iran to the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations, he added.

On Tuesday, hundreds of angry Iranians staged protests in front of the British embassy in central Teheran and the British Council compound in the Qolhak area in northern Teheran. Some protesters entered the embassy compounds and removed the British flag.

The rampage came one day after Iran's Guardian Council of the Constitution, the country's highest legislative body, unanimously approved a bill to downgrade diplomatic ties with Britain in response to its "hostile" policy against Iran.

British, French, German schools all located in one of the British compounds attacked on Wednesday were closed until further notice, as a precaution, diplomats said.

Norway said it had temporarily closed its embassy but its diplomats continued to work from elsewhere in Teheran.

International criticism of the embassy assault was swift and broad.

China said Wednesday that the "safety and dignity" of diplomatic personnel and organizations should be ensured.

"China always upholds that the safety and dignity of diplomatic personnel and organizations should be ensured and safeguarded," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms" the attacks against the British embassy in Teheran, calling on the Iranian authorities to protect diplomatic and consular property and personnel, and to respect fully their international obligations.

Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday expressed "regret" over the incident, and said that it will handle the case through legal channels.

Iranian Majlis (parliament) speaker said on Wednesday that the protesters' actions against the British embassy on Tuesday originated from decades of Britain's misconduct toward the Iranians, IRIB said.

Talking in the Majlis open session, Ali Larijani described the UN Security Council's condemnation of the British embassy incident as "hasty".

"The hasty measure taken by the UN Security Council to condemn the Iranian students' move (against the British embassy in Teheran) is aimed at concealing the past crimes of the US and the UK," said the report.

Hua Liming, former ambassador in the Middle East and a researcher at the Chinese Institution of International Studies, said the incident, the gravest since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Teheran carried out by Iranian students, occurred because of historical reasons and recent incidents against Iran, such as the US accusation of a plot by Iran to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the US, and the release of a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran's nuclear projects.

"At this tense moment, the UK announced its unilateral sanctions against Iran, which became the "last straw that broke the camel's back", said Hua, referring to the incursion by the Iranians into the UK embassy.

The incident came ahead of an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday that is expected to unveil new sanctions against Teheran over its nuclear program.

Hua said the new sanctions are expected to focus on the economic and political areas.

He warned that the incident in Iran, together with disturbances in Syria, could inflict worrisome influence on regional geopolitics.

"The fate of the two countries is closely linked," Hua said.

Xinhua-AFP-Reuters- China Daily