Senior Iranian ayatollah criticizes British embassy attack

Dec 3, 2011, 12:34 GMT

Tehran - A senior Iranian ayatollah on Saturday criticized the attack by students on the British embassy which led to a diplomatic crisis between Iran, Britain and the European Union.

'Beyond any doubt, Britain is one of our oldest enemies of whose illegitimate interferences in Iran we have many bitter memories,' Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi said in a statement carried on his website.

'But important is that sometimes some emotional actions beyond the framework of laws give our enemies some pretexts for political adventures and accordingly force us to pay a high price,' the ayatollah added.

The statement of Makarem-Shirazi, the first critical one after Tuesday's incident, indicates that the political consequences of the storming are gradually being realized in Iran.

Following the attack, all British diplomats and their families left Iran to fly back to London. In a tit-for-tat response, all Iranian diplomats returned to Tehran early Saturday after they were expelled by British government.

In solidarity with Britain, several other EU member states have recalled their ambassador until further notice.

The Iranian foreign ministry tried to avoid an escalation of the crisis by distancing itself from the students' attack and calling it a spontaneous act.

In an interview with ILNA news agency Saturday, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast however warned the EU 'not to cause themselves unnecessary problems because of Britain.'

Police commander Ismaeil Ahmadi Moqaddam said Tuesday that a dozen students have been arrested because of the embassy attack. There were however also unconfirmed reports that some of them have already been released.

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