Iran Arrests British Embassy Staff Members

Miliband Slams "Harassment And Intimidation" Of 8 Employees Of U.K. Office In Tehran

(CBS/AP)  Iranian media reported Sunday that authorities had detained eight employees of the British Embassy in Tehran for an alleged role in post-election protests, signaling a hardening of Iran's stance toward the West.

British foreign secretary David Miliband said he's deeply concerned about the fate of eight Iranian employees of Britain's Tehran office, reports CBS News correspondent Larry Miller.

The eight were arrested and accused of having played a "significant role" in the post-election protests and in provoking those demonstrations, the semi-official Fars news agency said in a report also cited by Iran's English-language, state-run Press TV. The reports gave no further details.

Miliband has demanded their release, describing their detentions as "harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable."

Miliband, who is on the Greek island of Corfu for a foreign ministers' meeting, said Britain has protested to the Iranian authorities about the arrests, which he said occurred Saturday.

Iran has accused the West of stoking unrest following a bitterly disputed June 12 presidential election, singling out Britain and the U.S. for alleged meddling. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has alleged massive fraud, and claims he is the rightful winner.

Iran's government has tried to discredit opposition supporters by alleging they have been directed by the West. Britain, as a former colonial power in the region, has been a prominent target. The British have also drawn fire because of the BBC's prominent role as trusted broadcaster in Farsi inside Iran.

Last week, Iran expelled two British diplomats, and Britain responded in kind. Iran has also said it's considering downgrading diplomatic ties with Britain.

On Friday, a senior Iranian cleric, Ahmed Khatami, lashed out at Britain in a nationally televised sermon. "In this unrest, Britons have behaved very mischievously and it is fair to add the slogan of 'Down with England' to the slogan of 'Down with U.S.A.,'" he said.

The U.S. and Europe have become increasingly vocal about their condemnation of Iran's harsh crackdown. Iran's leaders have pushed back with angry rhetoric, and the confrontation appears to be dashing hopes for a new dialogue, as initially envisioned by President Barack Obama when he took office.

Iran's rulers have unleashed club-wielding militiamen to crush street protests and arrested hundreds of journalists, students and activists. A special court is to try protesters, and Khatami demanded harsh sentences, including the death penalty, for those found guilty.

Despite the clampdown, Mousavi signaled he is not dropping his political challenge. In a new statement, he insisted on a repeat of the election and rejected a partial recount being proposed by the government. Still, Mousavi's challenge seemed largely aimed at maintaining some role as an opposition figure.

The latest statement by Mousavi, who is increasingly isolated in the past week, appeared Sunday on Ghalamnews, a Web site run by supporters. Mousavi-related Web sites have frequently been blocked by the government, and one was shut down by hackers last week.

Iran's top electoral body, the 12-member Guardian Council, has proposed recounting 10 percent of the votes. On Friday, the council offered to bring in six more political figures to oversee a partial recount, presumably to give the effort greater legitimacy in the eyes of the challengers.

However, Mousavi reiterated his demand for nullification as "the most suitable solution to restore public confidence." He called for independent arbiters to settle the dispute.

Another defeated candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, also expressed doubt that a fair review is possible.

"How is it possible to answer controversies through counting some ballots?" he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council, published Sunday in his newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli.

A third candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, said he would only send a representative to the council, for observation of a re-count, if the other two candidates did the same.

[ajjaxtheleast]

It cant be said that we exactly MESSED with
Lebanon's election...

We had Israel INVADE Lebanon killing 900 citizens and
Hezbollah people to try eliminating one of the candidates
for the presidency,,,which coincidentally happened to
be a Hezbollah-supported candidate.,,,,No one seemed
shocked and if they were shocked the shock
didn't last very long.

Fact is it's now even forgotten,,,

Palistine's meddling is now forgotton,,

This is our FACTUAL track record,,,dead people
make an inconvenient track record,,

So with that resume, how preposterous is Ahmadinejad's
claim that we "interfered" in Iran's election?

Given the "honest" media of ALL countries no single
countries's citizens can know enough about any claim
to be so objective and certain that they can totally
disregard a "news" report without at
least questioning it.

So far questiong whether Iran's claim of meddling has
merit or not has yet to be seen anywhere.

[california64]

I don't miss Bush and he was wrong about so many things but look at North Korea and Iran now. Axis of evil, indeed...

[bajajohn1]

If these Necon bloggers are on sombebody's payroll...they should be immediately fired. Apparently, they are clueless when it comes to foreign policy. When Ameican becomes entangled in foreign military aciton under a Democratic President...they start the chant..We are not the world's police, i.e. Kosovo; When a Democratic President does not become entangled militarily...they scream childish insults against the President. Don't you Neocons believe this is a British problem?

[rhs648]

And this is the country with which President Obama wants to have a diologue. It is naive to believe that Iran wants a diologue with us. Iranian leaders consider President Obama's offer of diologue a weakness of the United States. It won't be long before Iran goes to war with the west. They seem to suffer the same syndrome as the Nazis in Germany and Iraq under Hussein. That is, appeasement won't work and threats and words of warning won't work. The Iranian leaders know that we will back down repeatedly. This is something President Bush understood even if it angered a lot of American apologists.

[vietnamwar]

here we go again ?

[mcintoshlou]

urso stupid

[mcintoshlou]

IT WAS JUST a week ago that Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) was in the spotlight for his admission of marital infidelity. Now comes fellow Republican and would-be presidential hopeful Mark Sanford's clumsy admission of adultery, and Mr. Ensign is, so political pundits judge, yesterday's news. That's too bad, because there is still a lot about Mr. Ensign's affair that the public has a right to know.

Interest in Mr. Ensign -- and we make no secret that ours is influenced in part by his despicable role in undermining D.C. voting rights -- is by no means absolution of Mr. Sanford. The latter abrogated his responsibilities as South Carolina governor and misled his staff and the public. Mr. Sanford's infidelity should be a private matter between him and his wife, but his embarrassing confessional raised inevitable calls for his resignation. His announcement yesterday that he would reimburse the state for portions of a 2008 trade mission that included meeting with his Argentine mistress raises more questions about his conduct.

HOW CAN WE EVER HOPE TO DEAL WITH IRAN WHEN WE HAVE IMMORAL REPUBLI'CON'

OBSTRUCTIONISTS SERVING IN THE US GOVERNMENT,

VOTE OUT THE FASCISTS, THE REPUBLI'CON's

[hungry1968-15]

by UrSoWrong June 28, 2009 9:01 AM PDT
I already described the steps the President should take. Invasion isn't one of them. This is a war fought on many fronts.






by gravyboat3000 June 28, 2009 9:13 AM PDT
Sorry, I must have missed that post/s.

So, tell us again, what the President should have done/do, in regard to Iran.






No response, UrSoWrong?

[hungry1968-15]

by UrSoWrong June 28, 2009 8:52 AM PDT
Self-defense on behalf of American lives and property is what the government is supposed to do. Sometimes that requires meeting force with force. Sometimes that job is undermined by people whose definition of life and property is in conflict with social norms.







This is even loonier yet: explain to us all how Iran is posing a threat to our national defense or security.

And while you're at it, please tell us what "social norms" Iran has in common with the US.

[hungry1968-15]

So you post a bizarre, nonsensical post, I call you on it, and ask you to be more specific in your lunacy, and your response is that I AM an amateur?

If you had ANY sense at all, you would have explained your point.

Since you can't, we must assume that you're a juvenile that does not have a point, or can't articulate it if you do.

Good luck going through life like that, junior.

[Illuminated1]

Iran just loves kidnapping internationally protected diplomats and staff...

I say it's become time now that the rulers of the Iranian people pay a heavy price for their actions both against the U.S., now Britain as well.

We should use North Korea as our target practice range for our nuclear weapons and invite the Iranian diplomats for a 1st row seat, along with the Chinese empire's ambassador to report we are pissed off and ain't gonna take your **** anymore.

The Chinese are clearly interfering with world affairs, but haven't been scrutinized to at least my satisfaction.

The axis of evil exists.....it's time we had the balls to confront them on a forward deployed standing.

[gravyboat3000]

So, you're sayin we should invade Iran?

:(

[gravyboat3000]

Are Iranian citizens, employed by an embassy considered,"internationally protected staff"?

[hungry1968-15]

by Sloughfoot June 28, 2009 7:36 AM PDT
Hungry, you're eat up with your-self-pity.






Self pity?

By thinking that the American government is supposed to represent America?

[gravyboat3000]

So, you're sayin we should invade Iran?

:)

[hungry1968-15]

This should be funny.

Or terrifying.

[mcintoshlou]

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) offered one of the harshest rebukes from within the Republican Party of Mark Sanford, suggesting on Sunday that the South Carolina governor was hypocritical and had damaged the GOP at a time when the brand was already hurting.

"It's hard to quantify [the damage he has done]," said Pawlenty. "But clearly there has been damage. Any time you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that's sad and troubling and hypocritical other people are going to look at that and say, 'Hmmm, they don't walk the walk. And so the words and the actions don't ring true."

Later in his segment on CNN's "State of the Union," Pawlenty would not push back against suggestions that Sanford had been directly derelict in his duties when he traveled to Argentina to conduct his affair. "Your staff has to be able to reach you and reach you quickly," Pawlenty said. "He should not have left the state and not allowed people to know how to contact him if something happened. That's obvious."

THANK GOD WE DO NOT HAVE TO RELY ON THESE ADULTERERS

FROM THE REPUBLI'CON'

PARTY TO DEAL WITH WORLD AFFAIRS,

LETS ALL THANK GOD FOR BARACK OBAMA, HE WILL SAVE US ALL.


THE REPUBLICONS HAVE BECOME MINDLESS EVANGELICAL FASCISTS,

THEY ARE UN-AMERICAN

[gravyboat3000]

Iranians who believed they had a voice, prior to this election, are surely going to see this for what it is.

And the,"supreme leader", is lashing out, to gain control. But he, and Ahmadinijad are making a fatal error here, in blaming the west, and attempting to deny the protestors what is theirs.

This, is just the beginning.

(this is why the President of the United States of America has commented as he has thus far. As to not take away from the protestors, Rowdy, and the rest of you mental midgets)

[merlin901]

I do not think making condescending remarks improves the level of discussion.
Let's face it: Most of us are making remarks from our "gut" and not of any serious study of the middle east. Myself included.

But please, we do not need anymore "holier than thou" comments to further incite these people.

[gravyboat3000]

How am I being,"holier than thou"?

By callin Rowdy a mental midget?

Heck, that's common knowledge.

Seems to me, you're the one with your nose in the air, just sayin.

[merlin901]

We are in two wars and our economy is the greatest crisis since the Great Depression. We are already in debt up to our eyeballs and do not have the resources for yet another invasion and nation building while our country's economy is on the ropes with no end in sight.

Speaking as a "boomer", we have been on "sugar mountain" almost all our lives but we can no longer breathe the thin air and must come down the mountain to the "new" realities of life that have always been in waiting. We simply can not be what we think we should be without personal sacrifice. We may be the king kong of economies but we are roped down by our own excesses.

[brianbwb-2009]

As you can see, the neos don't care about anything really important, they simply want to call for war against any and everyone, whether or not those they rail against have actually done anything to us.

The economy is in the tank?

They don't care, they simply want to send others to go kill and die. (but chicken out if their number is called)

The fact that they have not attacked us?

No problem, they are simply the "other".

Against international law?

Ask the Native Americans what a treaty signed by these types means.

Against domestic law? Laws are only for the poor.

As you can see, they really have no valid reasons for their death-worship, except that it gives them the delusion that their existence actually has worth, or the delusion that their ideas, based on nothing but sheer xenophobia, have any merit whatsoever.

What is left after that is just what you see here, calls to cause yet more death of innocents without any real reason, and lame insult at anyone who shows more sanity than they.

Darwin was right, evolution is not an even process, these types have yet to climb out of the caves.

[gravyboat3000]

"sugar mountain"
"delicate flowers"
"scorpians"
???

W.T.F are you people talking about?

lmao

[hungry1968-15]

by charlie529 June 28, 2009 6:55 AM PDT
"Keep in mind, we ARE NOT the "world police". That IS NOT the role of our military."

Oh, phuckkkk you, sisssy.






Strap on your six shooters and jump the next plane over there. Make sure you send back a postcard telling us how it all worked out for you.

[Sloughfoot]

Oh, Hungry your such a, such a, well I just can not find the words to describe you.

[hungry1968-15]

by charlie529 June 28, 2009 6:51 AM PDT
The brits.. ya know? Them weirdos wit de fancy accents..






Why is AMERICA supposed to get the British citizens out of Iran?

Keep in mind, we ARE NOT the "world police". That IS NOT the role of our military.

[Sloughfoot]

Hungry, you're eat up with your-self-pity.

[hungry1968-15]

by ereHsdadhgaB-2010 June 28, 2009 6:40 AM PDT
AFTER 30 years Iranian terrorists continue the same thing: arresting embassy staff, and the AMERICAN DEMOCRAT Presidents continue doing the same thing: nothing.







What would you like Obama to do?

Wouldn't you rather have him focus his efforts and concerns on AMERICA'S PROBLEMS?!?!

I know that I would......

[Sloughfoot]

Get a life hungry, you ain't got a clue>

[hungry1968-15]

Each and every one of you idiots are listening to your handlers telling you that Obama should do SOMETHING, so you come on here parroting it like you've got some sort of profound knowledge, that only insiders would have.

But NONE of you whiny little neo cons can LOGICALLY answer the question: "What is Obama supposed to do about Iran?"

And then you claim that OTHERS are clueless?!?



The absurdity of it all makes you clowns look stupid, but it's the hypocrisy that makes you clowns look so funny!!

[hungry1968-15]

by charlie529 June 28, 2009 6:43 AM PDT
We'll get them out in 444 days, Mr. President.







Who are we supposed to be "getting out"?

[1notrub11]

The Iranian leadership don't want any kind of dialog. They would otherwise, in a much more responsible way, handle these issues. It's a great excuse for them to remain "holed up" and isolated so they can continue their programs of control. Works well for them.

[chonder2]

Dear Rocket Scientist,30 years ago was an Iranian revolution to overthrow the Shah, who WE installed after WE designed a COUP to overthrow that government. Why, not so they could eat freedom fries, but to get THE OIL. Like I said, Dems, call your reps,tell them to take the gloves off.Apparently you, ereHsdadhgaB-2110 enjoy Cheney having both hands on your shoulders. Stuart is right, you people are idiots!

[skyk-2009]

The Iranian Government has it's hands full right now because a very large part of their people want their OWN Obama, they want the isolationist policies stopped. It's going to be interesting to see how they manage to deal with THAT many people who consider the elections to be wrong. One thing is certain.... OUR New President and his reaching out to those folks HAS made a difference.... PERIOD!!

[brianbwb-2009]

What goes on in Iran is Iran's business, not ours.

We had very similar problems in 2000, and again in 2004, (except for the civil unrest, which actually should have happened) and we would not accept Iran telling us how to run our country, so what right have we to tell them how to run theirs?

And so "the world is watching", big deal. (not)

It is their country they will deal with their problems themselves, or not, but it really is not our affair.