Expelled Iranian diplomats leave UK, back in Tehran

The attack on the the British embassy in Tehran has severely damaged Iran-UK relations A group of Iranian diplomats who were expelled from Britain have arrived back in Tehran, Iranian media have said. Supporters were seen chanting slogans such as "Death to Britain" at the airport and waiting to greet them but the diplomats were hustled away by back corridors.
"Spy embassy closed for good," read one of the many placards carried by the crowd of some 100 men and women, most of whom appeared to be members of the hardline Basij militia, congregated at Imam Khomeini Airport
The diplomats left Britain  after being expelled following the storming of the British embassy in Tehran, the Foreign Office said.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague had given Iran's diplomats 48 hours to close the embassy and leave the country after the attack on Britain's mission in Tehran on Tuesday.
Several European nations, including France, Germany and Italy, also recalled their ambassadors in a show of solidarity, and the European Union on Thursday declared it would take "appropriate measures" to hit back at what it saw as an attack on the EU as a whole.
Ahead of the diplomats' departure, the Iranian flag was still flying outside the embassy in an upmarket area of west London but a stream of people could be seen carrying suitcases and boxes out of the premises.
 Britain has evacuated its diplomats from Iran and closed its embassy following Tuesday's attack by a mob shouting "Death to Britain", which Hague said could not have happened without the Iranian regime's tacit consent.
The Tehran protest erupted after the Iranian parliament voted on Sunday to expel the British ambassador and reduce trade relations with Britain in retaliation for UK-led sanctions against Iran's banking sector.
Hundreds of students rampaged for hours through Britain's two diplomatic compounds in Tehran, tearing down the Union flag, ripping up pictures of Queen Elizabeth II and trashing offices.
Britain's ambassador to Iran described how seven of his staff were seized by protesters during the attack.
Dominick Chilcott said some workers and their relatives were sent to the embassy's residential complex in northern Tehran before the protests for their safety, but were held by demonstrators who surged through security.
In an interview with British media, he described how one of the staff "barricaded the door with a heavy safe and a bed, and braced himself against the wall".
"And for 45 minutes he could hear people bashing down the door, smashing the windows and trying to get in because they knew he was there," he said.
"It must have been a very frightening experience -- until eventually the door gave way and they got him."
The ambassador described how the seven staff were made to sit in silence and some were "roughly handled".
"It must have been a troubling experience," he said.
The ambassador was in no doubt that the protest had high-level backing.
"Iran is not the sort of country where spontaneously a demonstration congregates and then attacks a foreign embassy," he said.
"That sort of activity is only done with the acquiescence and the support of the state."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has yet to comment on the incident, an indication, some analysts say, that it was organised by rival hardliners within the faction-riven establishment.
The European Union piled pressure on Iran following the attack, beefing up sanctions Thursday over Tehran's nuclear drive and threatening to hit its oil and finances next.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the embassy invasion, which it said was a spontaneous overflowing of anger during a student protest. Britain says there must have been at least tacit approval by the ruling establishment.
Speaking to reporters at the airport, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned Britain's European Union partners not to allow the diplomatic row to worsen their own ties with the Islamic Republic.
"The British government is trying to extend to other European countries the problem between the two of us, but of course we have told European countries not to subject their ties with us with the kind of problems that existed between Iran and Britain," he was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
Friday saw Iranians staging a fresh anti-British demonstration in Tehran in support of the storming of the British compounds, the official IRNA news agency reported.
After attending Friday prayers in Tehran University, worshippers flocked to central Enqelab (Revolution) Square, chanting "(We) support the seizure of the second den of spies", referring to the British embassy.
They also condemned what they called Britain's hostile policies toward the Islamic republic, and ended their demonstration by setting fire to British and Israeli flags.
IRNA did not say how many people attended the rally.