Britain Closes Iranian Embassy in London as Western Countries Withdraw Ambassadors From Tehran

(NewsCore) - Britain closed the Iranian embassy in London and expelled all its diplomats Wednesday after accusing the Iranian government of tacitly supporting a mob attack on its embassy in Tehran that left the building ransacked, papers destroyed and the Union Jack in flames.

At the same time, Foreign Secretary William Hague announced in a speech to parliament that the Tehran embassy had been officially closed and its staff had left Iranian soil.

About 24 embassy staff and their dependents were based at the embassy's office and residential compounds in Tehran, according to Sky News.

In concert with the British moves, Norway announced the temporary closure of its embassy in Tehran and France and Germany recalled their ambassadors to protest Tuesday's rampage.

Hague said London would not completely cut diplomatic ties with Tehran but left no doubt that shutting the Iranian embassy was a tit-for-tat response.

"If any country makes it impossible for us to operate on their soil, they cannot expect to have a functioning embassy here," he said.

He ordered all Iranian embassy staff to leave the country within 48 hours.

In response, a prominent Iranian MP warned Britain of "repercussions," AFP reported.

"Britain is responsible for all the repercussions of its action," Aladdin Brujerdi, chairman of Iran's parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, told the Tehran-based Al-Alam Arabic language satellite news channel.

"We (parliament) reduced diplomatic ties (with Britain) but public opinion is pleased that British diplomats are no longer in Iran.

"We recommend other European nations not follow the policies of Britain and the United States," Brujerdi added.

Washington cut all diplomatic ties with Iran after Islamic students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979 and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

Hague also expressed skepticism about the "belated" response by Iranian authorities to the attacks on the embassy and another mission compound.

"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," he told the House of Commons.

Now, he said, relations with Iran were reduced "to the lowest level consistent with the maintenance of diplomatic relations."

Meanwhile, Germany announced it was recalling its ambassador to Iran for "consultations" over the "unacceptable" attacks and French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero issued a statement announcing France would recall its ambassador.

"Taking into account the flagrant and unacceptable violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations and the seriousness of the violence, French authorities have decided to recall for consultation the ambassador of France in Iran," Valero said, according to AFP.

Norway announced earlier Wednesday it was temporarily closing its embassy over security concerns.

The two assaults ratcheted up already smoldering tensions between Iran and the West, which fears Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

They also followed London's unveiling last week of new economic sanctions against Iran and Iran's parliament voting over the weekend to expel the British ambassador.

EU foreign ministers were set to unveil further sanctions at a meeting Thursday, AFP said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told L'Express weekly Paris wanted a freeze on Iranian central bank assets and an embargo on Iranian oil.