LONDON - The British foreign secretary, William Hague, has ordered the expulsion of Iranian diplomats from the UK, saying they have 48 hours to "get out", according to various newspaper reports this morning.
The foreign secretary went to blame Tehran for the embassy situation saying that the storming of the mission on Tuesday had "the backing of the regime."
This radically differs from reports in Iran where the government used tear gas and batons on protesters who were forced by police to leave the compound after a violent clash.
Reports on the ground confirm that the government and police in Iran has been dealing with the situation and did not endorse or encourage the students in any way to storm the embassy. What happened is that a spontaneously riot erupted and mob mentality quickly took over. Before anyone could really react the mob of several hundred students stormed the embassy.
Dr James B Thring, a British author and Head of the Ministry of Peace, called on London's foreign secretary to revise his statements and recognize that Iranian police attempts to rescue embassy employees after the storming of the embassy. He went on to say that Tehran's police troops "did their best to prevent the entry of protesters and used maximum power to repel demonstrators' raid on the embassy compound."
"Your statement last night (29th November) that Tehran did too little to defend our Embassy is regrettably ill-informed and misdirected," Thring said in a letter to the British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
"The Tehran Police defended the Embassy in strength and used tear gas", he said. Before Iran's Deputy Police Chief Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan gave a last ultimatum to the protesters to leave the embassy area or wait for an even tougher police response. When it was all said and done numerous people were hurt, including police officers. In some cases the police acted heroically against the protesters who had at one point surrounded them and were throwing rocks and bottles...
In fact the Iranian Law Enforcement Police rescued 6 British staff members in the Qolhak Garden in Northern Tehran, who were in very serious danger, after the protesters raided the orchid and started a sit-in (see report: http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007275423). They did this in order to prevent a hostage crisis. Numerous police officers were hurt in that ordeal as well. For British offocials to say this was endorsed by the government is not correct at all.
David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has stated that the attack on the British Embassy in Teheran was "outrageous" while the Hague has called it "irresponsible". This was seen by some as typical grand standing and posturing. "British officials are good at posturing", says Erin Telford of Surrey England, a personal friend who called me regarding the news reports in Britain.
Iran issued formal apologies, but they went unacknowledged by British diplomats and politicians who seem to want to use this as a means to break diplomatic relations completely. This is exactly what the student protests want. Odd that British officials and student protesters would be agreement on this.
Students in Iran are extremely pissed off and angry over British foreign policy, economic sanctions and support for Israel. The students are saying that they will continue protests until a full severance of Iran's relations with Britain is complete.
The Iranian parliament reluctantly approved a lowering of ties with London just this Sunday, a week after Britain intensified its hostile measures against Iran and played a major role in a new round of sanctions on Iran's banking and energy sectors. A move that will most likely have devastating consequences on the Iranian economy as a whole. Many people are viewing this as an economic attack against the country. A move to further pressure Iran to do what it wants.
The Guardian newspaper is reporting, "the residential accomidations had been comprehensively trashed." The mob had gone through houses and apartments, wrecking them, nicking things ("stealing stuff")."
Including in those things stolen were thousands of confidential papers, important documents, and diplomatic cables and correspondence - some possibly relating to ongoing British intelligence operations in the country.
British intelligence sources refused to speculate on such matters, saying only "no comment" when asked about the possibility of a compromise of top-secret documents and diplomatic cables as a result of the embassy being ransacked.
Unconfirmed reports in Iran say some of the hard drives and some of the computers were also stolen or missing from inside the embassy in the midst of the chaos and rioting that was happening. This was before police could come in and secure the area and protect British property.
The crowd had reportedly set fire to the entire first floor of the embassy, an un-named official said, causing extensive damage.
The only staff left at the embassy and the residential compound will be local security staff, who will be asked to prevent the buildings from becoming "a playground for local youths".
"The incident serves as a vivid reminder that tensions are high between the two countries. It already has had unintended political consequences, that each nation must now deal with. Lets hope cooler heads prevail in this situation and a full restoration of diplomatic relations can resume here", says Matt Cole of Charlotte N.C., an unofficial expert on Iran who is highly respected here in the community.
Robert Tilford
Charlotte, N.C.
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