Hague orders Iranian embassy staff to leave

The foreign secretary told parliament he had ordered the immediate closure of Iran’s London embassy after hundreds of protesters stormed the British embassy building in Tehran on Tuesday. He said that as of today, all British embassy staff had left Tehran.

“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,” said William Hague.

France and Germany also announced they have recalled their ambassadors to Iran because of the attack on the British embassy.

Mr Hague confirmed that the second British embassy compound in Gulhaq, north Tehran, also came under attack on Tuesday. “Staff homes there were also attacked and looted,” he said.

Around 200 protesters in Tehran tore down the union flag and burned an embassy vehicle as they stormed the compounds, chanting: “The embassy of Britain should be taken over” and “Death to England!”

Britain’s foreign secretary reiterated that the attacks were a “grave violation of the Vienna Convention, which states that a host state is required to protect the premises of a diplomatic mission.”

But he stopped short of severing ties with Iran completely, saying instead that the action reduces relations with Iran “to the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations”. Britain has called for further sanctions and a diplomatic source told news agencies that London would now support a ban on oil imports from the Islamic Republic.

Mr Hague acknowledged that relations between Britain and Iran are “difficult”, but said: “We should be absolutely clear that no difficulty in relations can ever excuse in any way or under any circumstances the failure to protect diplomatic staff and diplomatic premises.”

An ‘unexpected’ move

Anoush Ehteshami, professor of international relations at Durham University, told Channel 4 News move from Britain was “unexpected”.

“I am suprised. They could have reacted differently – expelled lower diplomatic staff. But this time, it appears there was no interest in doing something like that. People here think we need to give a strong sign this is unacceptable,” he added.

The crisis between the two countries is the worst since 1989, when the UK severed diplomatic relations with Iran after the fatwa to kill author Salman Rushdie for his book, The Satanic Verses. Relations were restored 10 years later.

In 2007, Iranian officials held 15 British sailors for 13 days, claiming they were sailing in Iranian waters, but at no point did Britain cut off diplomatic ties.

“These things are usually resolved through unofficial talks behind the curtain,” said Professor Ehteshami. “I’m pretty sure that this is already happening. I don’t think either side has an interest in the situation escalating even further.”

‘Serious consequences’

On Tuesday, David Cameron warned the Iran’s leaders of “serious consequences” and branded the Iranian government a “disgrace” for failing to protect British embassy staff from the demonstrators who ransacked two diplomatic compounds in the capital.

The prime minister chaired crisis meetings late on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

But bearing in mind the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, when radical students held 52 Americans hostage for 44 days, the government waited until all staff had left the country before announcing London’s response.

“It’s rock bottom as far as Anglo-Iranian relations are concerned,” said Ali Ansari, director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at St Andrews University in Scotland. “The Iranians have a mountain to climb. I don’t think they fully understand how difficult it is for them now.”

Iranian leaders divided

Iran’s foreign ministry expressed its regret for the “unacceptable behaviour of few demonstrators”.

However the protest appeared to be supported by conservatives, who hold the majority in parliament, who were trying to force President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to expel the British ambassador. Two days before the attack, the Iranian parliament approved a bill reducing diplomatic relations with Britain, following London’s support of recently upgraded US sanctions on Tehran.

The UK announced it had severed all financial ties with Iranian banks following a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEE) which found evidence of undercover nuclear activities in Iran.

Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari told Channel 4 News that there was a divide among the authorities about the official reaction to the attack. “The official Iranian government condemned the attack. But this is part of the in-fighting within the government,” he said.

Professor Ehteshami agreed. “It’s a very scattered political landscape, with many factions competing for power,” he told Channel 4 News.

“Some of them, of course, would want the situation [between Britain and Iran] to escalate for their own political agenda. But I would tend to say there’s no interest from Iran in an escalation to this stage, when it is trying to play the diplomatic card.”

EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday to plan Europe’s response to the IAEE report.