Iran says local British embassy staff will be tried

A powerful Iranian cleric said on Friday that some local British embassy staff will be put on trial for allegedly stoking post-election unrest, a move set to plunge already strained ties to a new low, AFP reported.

‘In these incidents, their embassy had a presence, some people were arrested. Naturally they will be put on trial, they have made confessions,’ Ahmad Jannati, the head of Iran’s Guardians Council, said at Friday prayers.

A total of nine local staff were initially arrested late last month but the British government said seven have now been released, while Iranian state television has said only one remains in custody.

‘We are concerned and we are checking the reports,’ a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. ‘It is our top priority to secure the release of all of the embassy staff.’

Iran accused the embassy employees of instigating riots in the unrest that erupted over the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud AhmadinejadMahmoud Ahmadinejad, which his rivals said was fraudulent and marred by widespread irregularities.

Britain has rejected the allegations against the embassy as baseless.

Jannati, who is close to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali KhameneiAyatollah Ali Khamenei and a strong Ahmadinejad supporter, said the country’s ‘enemies’ had been plotting a ‘velvet revolution’ in the Islamic republic.

He said the Foreign Office had predicted ‘street riots’ around the June 12 election and that it had warned its nationals to stay away from public places.

Khamenei described Britain, which has long had turbulent relations with Iran and a long history of mistrust, as the ‘most evil’ of its enemies.

EU nations are considering a proposal from Britain to recall all their ambassadors from Tehran in protest and the Swedish presidency said on Thursday the 27-member body was ‘ready to take action’ if the staff are not freed.

Britain appears to have replaced the United States, often dubbed ‘the Great Satan,’ by Iranian leaders, as Tehran’s top foe in the wake of the election that triggered the worst crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.(a-21)