Britain Downgrades Diplomatic Ties With Iran
By ALAN COWELL, ROBERT F. WORTH and RICK GLADSTONE
NYT
LONDON — Britain deepened Iran’s international isolation on Wednesday by closing the vandalized British embassy in Tehran, withdrawing all its diplomats and ordering the Iranians to do the same at their London diplomatic mission within 48 hours, escalating the most serious rupture of relations in decades as tensions intensify over Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
The measures were announced in Parliament by Foreign Secretary William Hague a day after Iranian protesters shouting “Death to England” stormed the British Embassy compound and a diplomatic residence in Tehran, tearing down the British flag, smashing windows, defacing walls and briefly detaining six staff members in what appeared to be a state-sponsored protest against Britain’s tough new economic sanctions against Iran.
The attack on Tuesday was the most serious diplomatic breach since the traumatic assault on the American Embassy after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, and the reverberations quickly spread to other Western countries with diplomatic presences in Tehran. Norway announced Wednesday that it was preemptively closing its embassy, at least temporarily, and Spiegel Online reported that Germany was recalling its ambassador.
Mr. Hague announced Britain’s formal response in Parliament, saying the British embassy had been closed and “all British diplomats had now left Iran.” He also said: ”We require the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London and all staff must leave in the next 48 hours.”
(More here.)
NYT
LONDON — Britain deepened Iran’s international isolation on Wednesday by closing the vandalized British embassy in Tehran, withdrawing all its diplomats and ordering the Iranians to do the same at their London diplomatic mission within 48 hours, escalating the most serious rupture of relations in decades as tensions intensify over Iran’s suspect nuclear program.
The measures were announced in Parliament by Foreign Secretary William Hague a day after Iranian protesters shouting “Death to England” stormed the British Embassy compound and a diplomatic residence in Tehran, tearing down the British flag, smashing windows, defacing walls and briefly detaining six staff members in what appeared to be a state-sponsored protest against Britain’s tough new economic sanctions against Iran.
The attack on Tuesday was the most serious diplomatic breach since the traumatic assault on the American Embassy after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, and the reverberations quickly spread to other Western countries with diplomatic presences in Tehran. Norway announced Wednesday that it was preemptively closing its embassy, at least temporarily, and Spiegel Online reported that Germany was recalling its ambassador.
Mr. Hague announced Britain’s formal response in Parliament, saying the British embassy had been closed and “all British diplomats had now left Iran.” He also said: ”We require the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London and all staff must leave in the next 48 hours.”
(More here.)
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