Shots fired at UK mission; Iran recalls ambassador
TEHRAN, Sept 3: Shots were fired at the British embassy here on Wednesday, further straining relations between London and Tehran, just hours after Iran’s ambassador to Britain was recalled.
The shooting, which caused no injuries, came after Iran confirmed that it had recalled its ambassador from London for consultations following Britain’s arrest of a former Iranian diplomat.
The embassy was closed on Wednesday morning “until further notice” after being hit by gunfire, according to an embassy spokesman.
In London, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed the shooting. “The bullets hit offices on the first and second floors of the building,” he said. Three bullet holes could be seen in the reinforced windows on the second floor.
Witnesses quoted by the official IRNA news agency said the shots were fired from two motorcycles.
Following the incident, some 20 Iranian police officers were deployed in front of the building.
The Foreign Office said earlier on Wednesday that Iranian ambassador Morteza Sarmadi had returned to his country amid worsening diplomatic relations between the two countries, but added: “This is not a downgrading of relations.”
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said: “Sarmadi is here for some consultations” without specifying how long he would remain in Iran.
British authorities arrested former Iranian ambassador to Argentina Hadi Soleimanpour on Aug 22 after an extradition request from Buenos Aires. He is accused of taking part in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre there that killed 85 people.
A diplomat in London, quoted by The Guardian newspaper, said Sarmadi had officially returned for consultations following a hastily-arranged meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Monday.
The source said Sarmadi “may not return” after failing to win any compromise from Straw over the detention of Soleimanpour, who was ordered by a British judge on Friday to remain in custody until a court appearance on September 19.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani, who flew to London to discuss Soleimanpour’s arrest with Straw last week, on Tuesday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran, Richard Dalton, and criticized the British judge and prosecution, IRNA reported.
The spokesman for parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, Jafar Golbaz, was quoted as saying after a meeting with Ahani: “We will not accept under any circumstance that the London court hands over Soleimanpour to Argentina.”
Meanwhile, Tehran’s city council has asked Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to consider changing the name of Argentina Square to martyr Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim Square, in honour of the Iraqi Shia religious scholar assassinated last week in Iraq. Ayatollah Hakim spent 23 years in exile in Iran.
Tehran is also angry that Straw and the British government have been at the forefront of international demands for Iran to sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow snap UN inspections of its nuclear facilities.
The wider international community, led by the United States, suspect Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran flatly denies..—AFP
