After angry mobs ambushed the British Embassy located in Tehran, Britain withdrew all of its 24 diplomats from Iran and, in turn, ordered all 18 Iranian diplomats out of the United Kingdom. The Iranian mob wrecked the embassy by tearing down flags, setting fire to vehicles, and ransacking important documents. Iran and the West already have a strained relationship caused by Iran's international isolation and suspicions of the country's dangerous nuclear program. This recent attack not only increased the tension between Iran and Britain, but other Western countries, such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands, followed suit and withdrew their diplomats as well. Italy is also discussing doing the same (USA Today).
"The idea that the Iranian authorities could not have protected our embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of regime consent is fanciful," said Foreign Secretary William Hague (USA Today). .
Police quickly seized the scene just a couple of hours after the mob first entered the embassy replacing British flags with Iranian ones and destroying documents. The official IRNA news agency reported that the protestors numbered 300 and said Iran has a "clear duty" to protects its diplomats under international law (The Times of India).
Hague believes the attackers were made up of a student group who partners with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's paramilitary Basij organization. The organization recruits the majority of its members from university campuses. "We should be clear from the outset that this is an organization controlled by elements of the Iranian regime," he said. "This is a breach of international responsibilities of which any nation should be ashamed" (USA Today).
Hague publicly berated Iran for allowing its citizens to attack the embassy, but David Miliband, the foreign secretary whom Hague succeeded, expressed his hope that Hague's harsh words not become "part of the very unwelcome drumbeat of war" (USA Today).
