EU threatens Iran over arrest of UK embassy staff

BBC:

The European Union has demanded the immediate release of Iranian staff at Britain's embassy in Tehran detained on Saturday over post-election unrest.

EU ministers meeting in Greece warned that "harassment or intimidation" of embassy staff would be met with a "strong and collective" response.

Iranian media reported the detention of eight local staff at the UK mission over their alleged role in the unrest.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed the allegations as baseless.

...

Iran is isolating itself as its fragile regime tries to survive the lack of legitimacy that has resulted from the election protest. Those in the West who hoped to negotiate some kind of deal with Iran are going to have a difficult time doing so as normal diplomatic channels are under attack. Perhaps that is what Iran wants. Certainly in the past it has ignored normal diplomacy and attacked the US embassy. What the Europeans and the US should consider is that the attacks are a deliberate attempt to avoid negotiations.

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