U.K. Orders Closing of Iranian Embassy in London After Yesterday’s Attack

Bloomberg, 30 November 2011 – By Robert Hutton and Thomas Penny –  
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague ordered the closure of the Iranian Embassy in London following the storming of the British Embassy in Tehran, saying the attack happened with the consent of Iran’s government.
All Iranian diplomats must leave the U.K. in the next 48 hours, Hague said, over the “grave violation” of the Vienna Convention, which protects diplomats working in foreign countries. He said the closure of Iran’s mission didn’t amount to a severing of diplomatic ties. Britain has closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated all of the staff, Hague said.
 
“If any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil, they can’t have a functioning embassy here,” Hague told the House of Commons in London today. “I require the immediate closure of the Iranian Embassy.”
Iranian state media said yesterday’s attackers were from the Basij, a militia linked to the Republican Guard Corps. They entered the main embassy building in downtown Tehran and a compound in the north of the capital, tearing down the U.K. flag and Queen Elizabeth II’s picture, breaking windows and rifling through documents. The assault came a week after the U.K. joined the U.S. in expanding sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which the allies say may be hiding bomb-making efforts.
“We have come to the conclusion that no assurance of the safety of our staff which could be provided by the Iranian regime could be believed,” Hague said. “No difficulty in relations can ever excuse in any way or under any circumstances the failure to protect diplomatic staff and diplomatic premises,” he said. “The idea it could have happened without some degree of regime consent is fanciful.”