France pulls diplomatic staff out of Iran after attack on UK embassy

 

Iranian protesters attack the British embassy in Tehran, sparking a diplomatic fallout between the country and the west. Photograph: AY-Collection/SIPA/Rex Features

France is pulling diplomatic staff out of Iran following the attack by protesters on Britain's embassy in Tehran, according to a government official.

Some of the 20-30 French nationals who work at the embassy will be flying home with their families in coming days, the foreign ministry source said on Saturday.

The move follows the storming of the British embassy on Tuesday, which prompted Britain to pull its diplomats out of Iran and expel Iranian diplomats from the UK.

It has prompted the most serious diplomatic fallout between Iran and the west since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy after the Islamic revolution.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, announced on Wednesday that the UK mission in the country was to close, saying that the protests had the backing of the Iranian regime.

The French official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stressed that the country's embassy would remain open, but refused to specify how many people were being sent home.

France is among a number of European states that have condemned the attack, which saw an estimated 200 protesters – suspected of being "student basij militia" – invade the British diplomatic compound.

The basiji operate as a youth wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, one of the most powerful institutions in the country.

They were said to be angry at new UK sanctions on Iranian banks imposed last week over the country's nuclear programme.

Norway temporarily closed its embassy in Tehran citing security concerns on Wednesday, and Iran's ambassador to Sweden was summoned to the country's foreign ministry.

Germany and the Netherlands have removed their ambassadors temporarily for consultations and Italy and Spain called on Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.

The Iranian foreign ministry expressed its "regret" at the violence. But the parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani justified the violence as a legitimate response to "the domineering policy" of Britain.