Embassy Of Iran, London
The embassy was the location of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in which members of the Iranian-Arab nationalist group the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan seized the building for several days before being overrun by the SAS. The embassy was severely damaged during the siege and did not re-open until 1993.
Following the 2011 attack on the British Embassy in Iran, the British government expelled all Iranian embassy staff and closed the embassy in protest, alleging government support for the attack. Between 2011 and 2014, Iranian interests in the UK were represented by the Omani Embassy. Anglo-Iranian relations have improved since the election of President Hassan Rouhani and the countries made plans to re-open the embassy.
On February 20, 2014, the Embassy was restored and the two countries agreed to restart diplomatic relations.
On March 9, 2018, four people from Khoddam Al-Mahdi were arrested after climbing onto the first-floor balcony of the Embassy and taking down the Iranian flag in an apparent protest against the government in Tehran due to the arrest of the Islamic scholar Hussein al-Shirazi in Qom three days earlier.
On September 25, 2022, there were angry protests outside the Embassy, mostly by the Iranian diaspora in the United Kingdom, following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody on September 16. Demonstrators waved the pre-1979 Iranian flag and chanted "Death to the Islamic Republic". Five Metropolitan Police officers were injured and twelve arrests were made.
Gallery
-
The embassy in 2008
-
The embassy as it appeared after the hostage crisis, 1980