Iranian protesters briefly took six British embassy staff hostage today when they stormed two diplomatic compounds in Tehran, smashing windows, hurling petrol bombs and burning the British flag in a protest against sanctions.
Britain said it was outraged by the attacks on its embassy compounds, but had no immediate comment on the seizure of its staff who, according to Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, were freed by police from a leafy residential complex in north Tehran.
The UN Security Council today condemned the storming of the compounds and urged Iranian authorities to protect diplomats, the council president said.
"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attacks against the United Kingdom's embassy in Tehran, Iran, which resulted in intrusions into the diplomatic and consular premises, causing serious damage," Portugal's UN ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, said.
An Iranian official said storming of the compounds was not planned by the government. "It was not an organised measure. The establishment had no role in it. It was not planned," said the official, who declined to be identified. Iran's Foreign Ministry said it regretted the attacks and was committed to ensuring the safety of diplomats.
The incident was reminiscent of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran carried out by radical students who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The United States and Iran have cut diplomatic ties ever since.
The attacks come at a time of rising diplomatic tension between Iran and Western nations who last week imposed fresh sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme which they believe is aimed at achieving the capability of making an atomic bomb.
Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, says it only wants nuclear plants to generate electricity. The embassy storming is also a clear sign of deepening political infighting within Iran's ruling hardline elites with the conservative-led parliament attempting to force the hand of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and expel the British ambassador.
Several dozen protesters broke away from a crowd of a few hundred outside the main embassy compound in downtown Tehran, scaled the gates, broke the locks and went inside.
Protesters pulled down the British flag, burned it, and put up the Iranian flag, Iranian news agencies and news pictures showed. Inside, the demonstrators threw stones and petrol bombs. One waved a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth, state TV showed.
Others carried the royal crest out through the embassy gate as police stood by, pictures carried by the Fars news agency showed. Demonstrators waved flags symbolising martyrdom and held portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Another group of protesters broke into a second British embassy compound at Qolhak in north Tehran, the IRNA state news agency said. Once the embassy's summer quarters, the sprawling, tree-lined compound is now used to house diplomatic staff.
Six embassy staff were taken hostage there, but were later freed by police, Fars news agency reported. "Police freed the six people working for the British embassy in Qolhak garden," it said.
A German school next to the Qolhak compound was also damaged, the German government said.
Police appeared to have cleared the demonstrators in front of the main downtown embassy compound, but later clashed with hardline protesters and fired tear gas to attempt to disperse them, Fars said.
The British Foreign Office said it was outraged. "There has been an incursion by a significant number of demonstrators into our Embassy premises, including vandalism to our property," the Foreign Office said in a statement. "We are outraged by this. It is utterly unacceptable and we condemn it."
Britain said the Iranian government had a duty under international law to protect diplomats and urged Iranian authorities to act with "utmost urgency" to bring the situation under control.
There have been regular protests outside the British embassy over the years since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah, but never have any been so violent.
Today’s attacks followed the rapid approval by Iran's Guardian Council of a parliamentary bill compelling the government to expel the British ambassador in retaliation for the sanctions.
The incident followed Britain's imposition of new sanctions on the Islamic state last week over its nuclear programme.
London banned all British financial institutions from doing business with their Iranian counterparts, including the Central Bank of Iran, as part of a new wave of sanctions by Western countries.
Reuters