U.K. pulls Tehran staff, expels Iranian envoys

Updated 1:45 PM ET

LONDON - Britain's Foreign Secretary says the U.K. has withdrawn its entire diplomatic staff from Iran following attacks on the country's embassy and a residential compound in Tehran.

William Hague told the House of Commons on Wednesday that Britain had also ordered all Iranian diplomats to leave the U.K.

Mobs hauled down British flags and ransacked offices in Tehran on Tuesday in retaliation for Britain's support of tighter sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

The rare move to kick out a country's entire diplomatic corps marks a significant souring of ties between Iran and the West, amid deepening suspicions over Tehran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. Tensions were heightened in October when U.S. officials accused agents linked to Iran's Quds Force - an elite wing of the powerful Revolutionary Guard - of a role in an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.

Germany, France and the Netherlands all recalled their ambassadors from Iran late Wednesday for consultations on further action in response. Norway closed its embassy in Tehran as a precaution.

For many, the hours-long assault Tuesday on the British embassy in Tehran was reminiscent of the chaotic seizure of the U.S. embassy there in 1979. Protesters replaced the British flag with a banner in the name of a 7th-century Shiite saint, Imam Hussein, and one looter showed off a picture of Queen Elizabeth II apparently taken off a wall.

Iran called the mayhem unacceptable, but the parliament speaker said Britain's "domination-seeking" policies were ultimately to blame.

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Hague said it was "fanciful" to believe the attacks did not take place with support from Iran's regime.

He also said Britain and allies would consider other measures in response at a European Union meeting Thursday.

The Iranian government has expressed regret about "unacceptable behavior" of protesters, whose attacks began after anti-British demonstrations apparently authorized by authorities.

But Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said that the "wrath of (students) resulted from several decades of domination-seeking behavior of Britain."

Larijani -- addressing an open session of parliament Wednesday -- also called the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of the embassy attack a "hasty move."

Larijani's comments reflect the deepening diplomatic crisis between Iran and Britain, whose relations have in the past gone through periods of upheavals. On Sunday, Iran's parliament approved a bill to downgrade relations with Britain, one of America's closest allies with diplomatic envoys in the Islamic Republic.

Larijani insisted that the decision to scale back relations needs to be carried out immediately. But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has remained silent and his representatives have publicly opposed parliament's decision.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said it must carry out the decision after the parliament vote was approved Monday by Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council.

Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic relations since militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and held 52 hostages for 444 days. In the early moments of that siege, protesters tossed out papers from the compound and pulled down the U.S. flag.

Britain previously ordered Iran to remove its diplomats in 1989, when the two nations broke off ties over a fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to kill British author Salman Rushdie because his novel "The Satanic Verses" allegedly insulted Islam.

The White House strongly condemned the attacks and European Union foreign ministers were meeting Thursday to consider possible new sanctions. Hague also praised Poland, Russia, China and the UAE for offering support and expressing their concern.

The French foreign ministry said it was moved to act "in the face of this flagrant and unacceptable violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations and the gravity of the violence."

Italy's foreign minister Giulio Terzi said Rome was also evaluating whether to keep its diplomatic presence in Iran.

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said Iran was placing itself "outside of the framework of international law," Hague said.

France's budget minister, Valerie Pecresse, said the EU should consider a total embargo on oil exports, or a freeze on Iranian central bank holdings. British officials said the U.K. would likely support new measures against Iran's energy sector.

China, which is one of Iran's key allies, refused to criticize Iran by name for the attack on the British compounds, but said "the security and dignity" of diplomatic missions should be protected.

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired meetings of the British government crisis committee late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday and praised diplomats "who often face grave dangers, as they did yesterday in Tehran."

Cameron told lawmakers Wednesday at the House of Commons that the Iranian government will face "serious consequences" for "its unacceptable failure" to protect diplomats in line with international law.

About 24 British embassy staff and dependents are based in Tehran. All are adults since Britain will not post diplomats to Iran with small children for security reasons.

A senior Iranian police official, Ahmad Reza Radan, was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying some protesters who broke into the embassy have been identified and will be arrested. No figures were given. But the Fars news agency said 12 students have been arrested.

Norwegian foreign ministry spokeswoman Hilde Steinfeld said the decision to close the embassy was taken late Tuesday, but diplomatic staff have not been evacuated from the Iran.

Steinfeld did not give further details, but said "the decision follows security concern ... in context with the attack on the British Embassy." Norway has four to five diplomatic staff deployed in the Iranian capital, she said.

Neighboring Sweden, which has not closed its embassy or evacuated staff from Tehran, also showed its disapproval of the attack by summoning the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm on Wednesday morning.

"Iran has a duty to protect diplomatic premises and authorities there should have intervened immediately," Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesman Teo Zetterman said.

The assaults began after protest rallies organized by pro-government groups in universities and Islamic seminaries. It was not clear, however, if the attackers were mostly students or led by hard-line forces such as the basij paramilitary corps, which is run by Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The attackers ripped down the Union Jack, torched an embassy vehicle and tossed looted documents before riot police eventually cleared the areas. "Death to England!" some cried outside the compound in the first significant assault of a foreign diplomatic area in Iran in years.

Iran's tensions with Britain date back to the 19th century, when the Persian monarchy gave huge industrial concessions to London, which later included significant control over Iran's oil industry. In 1953, Britain and the U.S. helped organize a coup that overthrew a nationalist prime minister and restored the pro-Western shah to power.

More recently, Iran was angered by Britain's decision to honor Rushdie with a knighthood in 2007, and over its involvement in Western scrutiny of Iran's nuclear program.

In March 2007, Iran detained 15 British sailors and marines for allegedly entering the country's territorial waters in the Gulf - a claim Britain denies. The 15 were released after nearly two weeks in captivity.