Iran: the diplomatic battle heats up

Supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad burn US, British and Israeli flags during a protest gathering in front the British embassy in Tehran yesterday

Iran's rulers turned their fury towards the outside world yesterday, starting tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions with Britain and accusing the head of the United Nations of "meddling" in the country's affairs by "ignorantly following domineering powers".

At the same time there was a significant hardening of position from the US President Barack Obama who said that the "United States and the international community have been appal-led and outraged by the threats, beatings and imprisonments of the last few days... and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost".

Inside Iran, the regime continued with its draconian measures against the opposition. It announced the setting up of special courts for arrested protesters and rejected outright de-mands to annul the election, reiterating its view that voting irregularities did not affect the outcome of the polls.

The diplomatic confrontation began on Monday when the British ambassador in Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be told that two members of the embassy staff must leave the country because of "activities incompatible with their diplomatic status". According to British officials, no further reasons were given and the two men, middle-ranking members of the diplomatic corps, are due to arrive back in the UK today.

The Iranian ambassador was called into the Foreign Office yesterday to be told that two embassy officials were going to be expelled in response. Gordon Brown said he was "disappointed that Iran has placed us in this position". He told Parliament: "The onus is on Iran to show the Iranian people that recent elections have been credible and that the repression and curtailment of democratic rights that we have seen in the last few days will cease."

In Tehran, a crowd of about 100 supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gathered outside the British embassy, burning homemade Union Flags and the Stars and Stripes and pelting the building with tomatoes. Washington does not have diplomatic relations with Tehran and its national interests are represented by the Swiss. But another group of pro-regime students held a highly symbolic news conference in the old US embassy, the building seized by students after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and where 52 US hostages were held for 444 days.

"We don't need to have such useless relations with Britain... If Britain continues its interference in Iran, we will destroy their houses over their heads," one of the student leaders was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The expulsions of diplomats in Tehran came after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader, singled out "evil" Britain as the country's foremost enemy. This was followed by the highly influential parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, calling for a review of ties with the UK and the Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki claiming the UK was trying to "sabotage the election".

Some of the antipathy towards Britain is historic. The Iranian establishment had also become increasingly annoyed by the activities of exile groups in London, the coverage of the situation in the country by the UK media, and the strident criticism by the British Government in the repression which followed the election.

It was noted that the focus on London or "Little Satan" rather than the "Great Satan" in Washington might have been in part due to President Obama's much-praised Cairo speech as well as his hitherto cautious line on the allegations of vote rigging and the subsequent state crackdown. That may change after Mr Obama's comments in Washington last night, when he accused Tehran of making "patently false and absurd" claims that countries abroad were instigating protests.

"This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won't work any more in Iran. This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they – and only they – will choose," the US President said. "We have seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and their voices heard. Above all, we have seen courageous women stand up to brutality and threats, and we have experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets."

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, also expressed his dismay over the violence and called on Iran to respect the will of its people and their freedom of assembly and expression.

Tehran's senior foreign affairs spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi countered: "The stance taken by the UN secretary general is an evident contradiction of his duties, international laws and are an apparent meddling in Iran's internal affairs.

"He is damaging his credibility by ignorantly following some domineering powers which have a long record of uncalled-for interference in other countries' internal affairs and colonisation," the Iranian official added.

Iran's leadership did, however, win backing from Russia. A spokesman said Moscow respected the election result and disputes about the vote "should be settled in strict compliance with Iran's constitution and law and it is exclusively an internal matter".