The Message Behind the Seizure
IRD: Tehran on Tuesday witnessed the fury of hundreds of revolutionaries and Basijis who, in protest against Britain’s anti-Iran policies in recent weeks, gathered in front of the kingdom’s embassy in Central Tehran and the controversial Qolhak Garden in the north of the city. As the heat of the moment increased, the students stormed the embassy, dragged down the British flag and raised Iran’s national flag-- in an effort to strong-arm British statesmen so that from now on, London will think twice before making any decisions on Iran.
The British Foreign Ministry and House of Commons have shown tough reactions to the attack on their embassy in Tehran, saying that they won’t leave it without response. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the message behind the protest has been grasped by the British and from now on they will take into consideration such contingencies when reflecting on their relations with Tehran.
Within recent weeks, Washington and London have boarded on a new plane in their adverse attitude towards Iran. With the threat pulses sent by Israel and radical American politicians, and bragging over issues such as the death of a high-ranking IRGC commander in an ammo depot near Tehran, many were expecting a tough response from Tehran, besides the decisive remarks by some Iranian military officials and the parliament’s bill to scale back relations with London.
The revolutionary youth of Tehran have attacked Britain and the US vehemently following the 2009 post-election incidents and regard these two countries as the key instigators of a large portion of political tension transpiring in Iran at the moment. They actually had a drill for yesterday’s seizure of the UK Embassy by gathering in front of the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Tehran to protest the Saudis’ role in the crackdown on peaceful protests in Bahrain earlier this year. Some Arab countries’ machinations against Iran, particularly after the allegations of Tehran’s outlandish plotting of an assassination of the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, have intensified during the recent weeks and they are now even unwilling to hide their intentions to undermine the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regional stature. London should have braced for such a radical move when it spearheaded the new calls for imposition of unilateral diplomatic and economic sanctions against Tehran.
The brief takeover of the UK Embassy and Qolhak Garden in Tehran also sends an unmistakable message to other European countries: unison with Washington and London in tightening the cordon around Iran comes with a price. At a time when the Middle East is laden with revolutionary zeal and the Israeli Embassy in Tel Aviv is conquered by angry Egyptians, events such as the one which happened in Tehran yesterday may not be that strange if put in a regional context, and amid a time when Iran and the West trade barbs. What happened in Tehran may inspire the revolutionary youth of other countries, who are becoming increasingly anti-West.