As in, trying to incite the populace against a long-established demon figure.

Iran arrests UK embassy staff

The British government is “deeply concerned” at the arrest and detention of British Embassy employees in Tehran, the foreign secretary said today.

David Miliband said Britain had protested to the Iranian authorities about the arrests made on Saturday.

He described the detentions as “harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable”. He added: “We want to see (them) released unharmed.”

Iranian media reported today that authorities had detained eight employees of the British Embassy in Tehran for an alleged role in postelection protests, signaling a hardening of Iran‘s stance toward the west.

No, it’s not always about us. The Iranian regime has been nursing a grudge against Great Britain for far longer than they have against us; I’m told that it’s so prevalent reached the point that it’s reached the point of satire (see My Uncle Napoleon, which everyone seems to mention when this subject comes up). I suspect that the triggering element here was the British (and other) embassies taking in injured protesters during the crackdown last week; it would be nice to think that this is an act of desperation by the regime, but we may have passed our window for any sort of meaningful intervention.

Which isn’t going to actually end this, of course.  It’ll merely confirm in certain people’s minds that (via AoSHQ) alternate methods are the way to go.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.