Iranians Arrest 9 British Embassy Officials, Britain Is Hopping Mad

Talk about a little deja vu, huh? Anyone have an image of the American embassy in Tehran back in the 70's pop into your head? Well, the Iranians have gone and arrested 9 officials of the British Embassy in Tehran today and to put it mildly, the British back home are pissed off about it. Here's some of the latest from Times Online:

Britain reacted angrily today to the arrest of nine Iranians working for the British Embassy in Tehran, calling the move unacceptable “harassment and intimidation”.
The nine senior political advisers at the embassy are accused of playing a “significant role” in opposition protests. Their detention has shocked Western governments. EU foreign ministers demanded the release of the nine and said intimidation of diplomatic staff in Tehran would provoke a “strong and collective response”.
Sources told The Times that if Britain was forced to close its embassy, the 26 other EU states would probably follow suit.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, called the arrests “harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable”. He said: “These are hard-working diplomatic staff and the idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran in recent weeks is wholly without foundation.”

Now, the Iranians have been setting this up for days as they try to find some sort of scapegoat for all of the demonstrations and uprisings of their own people. Here's what has gone on leading to this almost predictable action agains the British embassy:

In recent days Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, had labelled Britain the “most evil” of those powers; two unnamed British diplomats and the BBC’s Tehran correspondent have been expelled; officials have accused British intelligence and its Iranian “stooges” of fomenting the unrest; and a British-Greek journalist has been arrested.

So, the question now is what will or what can the British do? One only has to look back to the Iranian capture of the British marines and sailors off the coast of Iran to see the last time that Iran purposely humiliated the Brits and basically, the British put their tails between their legs and limped home after that one. I don't expect the British to do too much with this one other than to keep throwing angry words in the direction of Tehran, but it does lead to some interesting possibilities if the British were to get serious about striking back at Iran. One thing I can see the British doing is expelling every Iranian official from Britain - I doubt they will do that with their people locked up but I think the British people are going to demand something.

Note: if i was Gordon Brown, I'd call a meeting with Israeli and American leadership just to get the Iranians thinking (course, the Obama administration probably would decline the meeting).

British fury as Iran arrests nine embassy workers

Britain reacted angrily today to the arrest of nine Iranians working for the British Embassy in Tehran, calling the move unacceptable “harassment and intimidation”.
The nine senior political advisers at the embassy are accused of playing a “significant role” in opposition protests. Their detention has shocked Western governments. EU foreign ministers demanded the release of the nine and said intimidation of diplomatic staff in Tehran would provoke a “strong and collective response”.
Sources told The Times that if Britain was forced to close its embassy, the 26 other EU states would probably follow suit.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, called the arrests “harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable”. He said: “These are hard-working diplomatic staff and the idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran in recent weeks is wholly without foundation.”

About 2,000 supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the challenger to President Ahmadinejad in the recent election, have been arrested and hundreds more are believed missing as the regime continues to quash those who claim that the vote was rigged.
Iranian sources said that the nine arrested worked for the embassy’s political section, although the Foreign and Commonwealth Office would not confirm that. It was unclear whether they were seized at their homes or near the embassy. They do not have diplomatic immunity. Four were later released, but one Iranian analyst feared that the others could be forced “to confess” that they had conspired against the government in Tehran.
The British Embassy employs about 100 Iranians in roles ranging from political advisers, consular officials and translators to security guards and gardeners. Like every other European embassy it depends heavily on locally employed staff and could not operate without them. In February the British Council had to suspend its operations in Tehran after the regime intimidated its 16 Iranian staff and forced them to resign.
The arrests are the latest move in Iran’s concerted campaign to paint those challenging President Ahmadinejad’s re-election as pawns of Britain and other Western powers determined to destroy the Islamic Republic.
In recent days Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, had labelled Britain the “most evil” of those powers; two unnamed British diplomats and the BBC’s Tehran correspondent have been expelled; officials have accused British intelligence and its Iranian “stooges” of fomenting the unrest; and a British-Greek journalist has been arrested.
Last week 150 pro-government “students” staged a demonstration outside the high-walled embassy, and one of their leaders invoked the student invasion of the US Embassy in 1979 when 52 American diplomats were held hostage for 444 days. In response the Foreign Office evacuated the families of the 22 British diplomats.
The embassy closed its commercial section, which promoted trade with Iran, last August. The British Ambassador no longer holds a reception to mark the Queen’s Birthday after Iranian guests were harassed and photographed by government supporters at the compound in 2007.