Iran’s Security Forces Warned against Likely Foreign Embassy Attacks
An anonymous group has issued a call for a yet unauthorized gathering in front of the British embassy in Tehran. Tabnak is reporting here on Monday that security measures around the site are increasingly tightening.
More than five years have passed since the British embassy in Tehran was stormed, putting an end to diplomatic ties between Tehran and London. The two countries have only recently resumed ties at ambassador levels in September, but tensions have been escalating rapidly since Prime Minister Theresa May recently attended the 37th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain, during which she accused Iran of fueling instability in the region.
What triggered the 2011 assault by a group of so-called spontaneous protesters was UK’s imposition of fresh sanctions on Iran, a move reciprocated by the Iranian parliament soon afterwards.
Now Tabnak, a moderate Principlist website owned by IRGC commander and former presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei, is warning security officials to be on their toes in order to prevent a similar scenario.
The incursion proved to be costly for Iran’s image in the global scene. However, that did not stop another spontaneous mob from storming the Saudi embassy in January, over the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. That, too, gave the Saudis a pretext to cut ties with and increase pressure on Iran. A number of other Arab states followed suit.
In both occasions, security officials confronted criticism. In the 2011 episode, the police watched as protesters broke into the embassy, set fire, pulled down the UK flag, and took diplomats hostage. It took the security forces several hours to restore calm.
In the case of Saudi embassy, police said they were caught off guard and were not prepared to handle the assault. Some even went further saying officials were certain nothing special would take place. The embarrassment later caused by the incident went so out of control that some observers accused Iran as using such spontaneous assaults on foreign diplomatic missions to advance its own policies.
Top Iranian officials, including the Supreme Leader, have repeatedly condemned such attacks, at least since the hostage crisis in 1979, otherwise dubbed as the occupation of ‘den of espionage’ in Iran’s official rhetoric.
The anonymous call for a gathering in front of the British embassy must sound the alarm for officials so that they cannot claim to be off guard again, Tabnak wrote. Tabnak advocates a strong response to UK’s flagrant accusations against Iran but suggests diplomatic channels for any reactions in order to minimize the costs for Iran. Tabnak warns against negligence, deliberate or otherwise, regarding potential sabotage that might take a toll on the country.
A separate but similar call has been making the rounds in Mashhad for a gathering in front of a Turkish consulate, in response to three-day rallies held in front of Iranian diplomatic missions in Ankara and Istanbul over the country’s allegedly destructive role in Syria’s Aleppo.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said on Monday Iran has summoned Turkish ambassador to protest the demonstrations. Although the protests took place in the midnight hours, the Turkish police protected the buildings and no damage was reported, he added. He told reporters Iran has received information showing that “some regional players” were behind the protests.
Iranian security and interior ministry officials have denied formal permission requests have been submitted for the two proposed gatherings in Tehran and Mashhad but vowed severe crackdown in case they are held.
Iran’s ambassador to London, Hamid Baeidinejad issued a piece on his Telegram channel criticizing mercenaries who abused uninformed crowds to orchestrate rallies in front of Iranian embassies in a scenario to provoke reciprocations from Iran. He condemned Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) for being behind such moves under the cover of support for humanitarian measures.
Iran is standing pressure from both regarding its role in the region and the future of the landmark nuclear deal it reached with world powers last year. If these hardliner spontaneous folks are ever to slip under the radar of Iran’s security forces again, Iran’s image will be ruined beyond repair at least for several years.