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03/09/2003
British Embassy remains closed following shots fired into building
The Foreign Office has confirmed that the British Embassy in Tehran will remain closed for a time after shots were fired at the building from a nearby street today.
The incident occurred at around mid-day local time (7.30am) when at least five shots were fired into the building breaking windows.
No one was injured in the attack in which several of the bullets stuck the first and second floor windows of the embassy building.
It has not been ascertained who was responsible for the shooting which was unclaimed.
However, tension between Iran and Britain has been running high following the arrest on August 21 of Iranian diplomat, Hade Soleimanpour, who was detained in Britain in connection with the bombing of a Jewish building in Argentina in 1994 that killed 85 people. Mr Soleimanpour was the Iranian Ambassador to Argentina at the time of the bombing.
There have been calls in Iran for the British Ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, to be expelled as a protest against the arrest and it has emerged that the Iranian Ambassador to Britain, Morteza Sarmadi, has been recalled for what have been described as "consultations". It is not known if this is a sign of the strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has called for the release of Mr Soleimanpour, but the British government have said that it is a purely judicial matter as the diplomat has been arrested on an extradition request from Argentine authorities.
(SP)
The incident occurred at around mid-day local time (7.30am) when at least five shots were fired into the building breaking windows.
No one was injured in the attack in which several of the bullets stuck the first and second floor windows of the embassy building.
It has not been ascertained who was responsible for the shooting which was unclaimed.
However, tension between Iran and Britain has been running high following the arrest on August 21 of Iranian diplomat, Hade Soleimanpour, who was detained in Britain in connection with the bombing of a Jewish building in Argentina in 1994 that killed 85 people. Mr Soleimanpour was the Iranian Ambassador to Argentina at the time of the bombing.
There have been calls in Iran for the British Ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, to be expelled as a protest against the arrest and it has emerged that the Iranian Ambassador to Britain, Morteza Sarmadi, has been recalled for what have been described as "consultations". It is not known if this is a sign of the strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has called for the release of Mr Soleimanpour, but the British government have said that it is a purely judicial matter as the diplomat has been arrested on an extradition request from Argentine authorities.
(SP)
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