Iran Summons British Diplomat over Embassy Attack

TEHRAN (defapress) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned Britain’s Ambassador to Tehran Nicholas Hopton to express Tehran’s protest over the recent attack on the Iranian embassy in London.

News ID: 69130

Date: 11 March 2018 - 10:19

“Following the attack of people affiliated with an extremist religious group on Iran’s Embassy in London, the UK ambassador was summoned by the foreign ministry’s Director General for Europe,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Saturday.

According to the foreign ministry website, Iran has objected to the performance of the UK police in the face of the attack.

“The Director General for Europe urged the UK government to fulfill its duty to protect diplomats and diplomatic premises and take more protective measures for the Iranian buildings.”

Hopton, for his part, expressed regret over the incident and explained about the performance of the UK police and the arrest of protesters, and said he will convey Iran’s message to London and will provide Tehran with answers as soon as possible.

In the attack on Friday, four men dressed in black climbed on to a first-floor balcony of the building, took down the Iranian flag, and waved flags of their radical cult in an apparent protest against the Islamic Republic.

No one was hurt during the incident and the trespassers were arrested when they came down after around three hours. The four are detained for causing criminal damage and being unlawfully on diplomatic premises, a spokeswoman for London’s Metropolitan Police said.

Immediately after the incident was reported, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, Abbas Araqchi expressed the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strong protest to the British ambassador to Tehran and demanded that the UK police fully protect Iranian diplomats in London and immediately deal with the assailants.

Also, Iran’s ambassador to Britain, Hamid Baeidnejad, tweeted that the assailants were “advocates of the Shirazi cult”.