Group storms British embassy in Tehran

Group storms British embassy in Tehran

news.bbc.co.uk

Demonstrators stormed the compound of the British Embassy in Iran, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

The incident happened at 1720 GMT (2050 local time) and reports claimed the occupation lasted for about an hour.

A Foreign Office spokesman said the situation had been resolved and all staff were safe and accounted for.

He could not confirm reports that the demonstrators were protesting against what they see as British support for Israel's air strikes on Gaza.

There were also unconfirmed reports that the demonstrators tore down the British flag and hoisted a Palestinian standard in its place.

(visit the link for the full news article)

When I first saw this, I immediately thought of the situation that the Americans experienced after the Iranian Revolution.

Fortunately the intruders were removed, but it sets a very dangerous precedent. The Iranians have already captured Britons before (remember the Royal Navy personnel and the Royal Marines they kidnapped back in 2007?), so it's quite possible they'll do it again.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Some more news outlets have begun to break the story:

Daily Telegraph

Chicago Tribune

CNN

Maybe it might be the UK thats has the final word on war or not with Iran? Rather than Israel or the USA? Anyone think of that before?

Except that the UK is calling for an immediate ceasefire and talks - so its rather random

I doubt the current UK government could stand another kidnapping without sending in the SAS or similar as any major issues could cause a Leadership challenge in the Labour party which would intern probably give cause for a General Election, which the Conservatives would probably win.

Maybe Britain should select a few high energy microwaves and cook the innards of further intruders.

reply to post by BBTBE


Rescuing someone from the middle of Tehran would be very, very difficult. Remember that the Americans attempted to rescue their hostages and it failed.

As to whether the UK has the final word on any attack on Iran, I doubt it. It's more likely that the Iranians turned on the most prominent Western target they could find... and since the US no longer has an embassy in Tehran, the UK is the logical choice.

Do the militant Muslims attacking embassies believe that this will further their cause and help their image in the eye of the public?

Most of the international community is taking a rather unfavorable view of Israel's actions in Gaza. How exactly will attacking and threatening diplomats in embassies help their cause?

Bad PR people, or something more... makes you wonder, doesn't it?

reply to post by Ste2652


The reasons for that operation failing were not dealing with anything like this. The reason for it was because we didn't have the capabilities at the time, special forces at the time weren't exactly like we have today. And the people selected for flying the extraction craft and all that ended up crashing the plane for one reason or another.