Iran arrests UK Embassy staff for 'role in riots'

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has detained eight local British Embassy staff, sparking a new row with Britain on Sunday that underscored the Iranian leaderships effort to blame post-election unrest on foreign powers, not popular anger and further exacerbating tensions with the West over the issue.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband demanded the release of all the staff still held and said his European Union colleagues had agreed to a strong, collective response to any such harassment and intimidation against EU missions.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced what he called interfering statements by Western officials following the disputed presidential election on June 12.
If the (Iranian) nation and officials are unanimous and united, then the temptations of international ill-wishers and interfering and cruel politicians will no longer have an impact, state radio quoted him as saying.
By voicing absurd opinions on Iran, they speak in a way as if all their problems have been resolved and it is only Irans problems that remain, Irans clerical ruler said.
The Fars news agency said the eight staff members were arrested for having a considerable role in the riots.
Eight local employees at the British Embassy who had a considerable role in recent unrest were taken into custody, the semi-official Fars news agency said, without saying when.
Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei confirmed several British Embassy staff had been detained and some had been released, state radio reported, giving no details. He said the Embassy had played a role in the unrest.
He accused the British Embassy of sending local staff undercover among rioters in order to push its own agenda, IRNA news agency reported.
Some of these individuals... have been summoned. Some have been released after preliminary investigations and some have been kept in custody, he said.
Miliband said about nine employees had been detained, but some had been freed. The idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran in recent weeks is wholly without foundation, he told reporters at a conference in Corfu.
The European Union condemned Irans suppression of post-election protesters and said it would meet any intimidation of its diplomatic staff with a strong and collective response.
Obviously the regime is trying to preserve its position by very harsh repression. But that cannot hide the fact that this is a weakened regime. It has lost legitimacy both internally and externally, said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country takes over the EU presidency on July 1.