British embassy staffers held in Iran over Iran releases five of nine UK embassy staff

Iran releases five of nine UK embassy staff
By James Blitz in London and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: June 28 2009 10:30 | Last updated: June 29 2009 12:51
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cd0861de-63c4-11de-a818-00144feabdc0.html


Iran said on Monday five out of the nine detained local staff at the British embassy in Tehran had been released, but the remaining four were being interrogated, as the European Union joined forces to condemn the detentions.

The nine had been detained on accusations of involvement in street protests that rocked Iran after the disputed presidential election on June 12. .

EU foreign ministers meeting in Corfu on Sunday said they would respond firmly to any further “harassment or intimidation [by Iran] of foreign or Iranian staff working in embassies”.

Hassan Ghashghavi, foreign ministry spokesman, said on Monday that David Miliband, UK foreign secretary, and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki had spoken on the phone on Sunday evening.

”Out of nine people, five of them have been released and the rest are being interrogated,” Mr Ghashghavi said. He said Mr Miliband had stressed in his conversation with Mr Mottaki that Britain had no intention of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs.

”Mr Mottaki said that if they really prove this in practice ... this can be considered as a positive step,” Mr Ghashghavi said.

Iran’s intelligence minister, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, had said late on Sunday night that the British embassy was overstaffed with Iranian employees, allegedly trained to fuel unrest in Iran. Mr Ejei said that there were photos and videos of local staff participating in recent rallies in protest against the disputed poll results.

David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary, said he was “deeply concerned” by the arrests and warned their continued detention was “quite unacceptable’’. Mr Miliband said as of Sunday morning four of the nine staff had been released. The EU statement demanded all should immediately be set free.

The seriousness of the diplomatic stand-off was underscored by the EU statement in which foreign ministers said they were becoming “seriously concerned” about developments inside Iran. Iran has in the last fortnight witnessed the greatest upheaval since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

But in a reminder of the delicacy of the diplomacy, the US administration and Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the door was still open for a renewal of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iranian media said the staff had been detained because of their “considerable role” in instigating riots triggered by this month’s disputed election result. Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in Tehran and other cities to demand a recount of votes of the June 12 presidential election after the authorities said Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the hardline incumbent, had secured a sweeping victory.

Iran has repeatedly claimed UK diplomats have been interfering in the country’s domestic affairs. Last week Iran forced two British envoys to leave the country, a decision that triggered an immediate tit-for-tat response by London.

Mr Miliband roundly rejected Iran’s allegations about the locally hired staff on Sunday. “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,” he said.

The UK has been the focus of Iran’s diplomatic protests, partly because the US does not have an embassy in Iran.

But the troubled relationship between the UK and Iran also has a long history, going back to British involvement in a 1953 coup in Iran.

Iran’s leaders stepped up their attacks on the west on Sunday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, denounced what he described as “interfering statements” by western officials.

“If the (Iranian) nation and officials are unanimous and united, then the temptations of international ill-wishers and interfering and cruel politicians would no longer have an impact,” state radio quoted Mr Khamenei as saying.

While the street rallies that drew hundreds of thousands have stopped, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the main challenger to Mr Ahmadinejad, showed no desire to compromise at the weekend.

He wrote a letter to the Guardian Council, the constitutional watchdog, and insisted the election results had to be cancelled.

The watchdog is expected to confirm the results of June 12 presidential election on Monday after announcing that its final meeting with a representative of Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the opposition leader, did not go well.

“There was a meeting at 9am today but ended with hesitations [of Mr Moussavi’s representative] and reached no clear result,” Abbasali Kadkhodaei, the council’s spokesman, told state TV.