Israel Matzav

EU may pull its ambassadors from Tehran

The New York Times is reporting that the European Union is considering pulling all 27 of its ambassadors from Tehran in protest over the regime's refusal to release Iranian personnel of the British embassy who have been arrested.

Withdrawing all 27 ambassadors would be a rare and unusually forceful display of European anger at Iran’s crackdown on dissent after the June 12 presidential election, and several diplomats said the European Union would prefer to avoid such a move.

Iran arrested nine employees of the British Embassy in Tehran over the weekend, but said it had released all but one of them by Wednesday.

The Iranian response to the potential European action was bellicose. A high-ranking Iranian military official demanded that the Europeans apologize for interference in Iran’s affairs, which, he said, disqualified European countries from negotiating on Iran’s nuclear program.

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Iran appears to be caught between strategies: one that does not want to downgrade diplomatic relations with other nations for fear of international isolation, and another that is pushing the concept of foreign interference for domestic reasons.

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The Iranian authorities have sought to cast Britain in particular as an instigator of the unrest. The nine Iranian employees of the British Embassy who were arrested over the weekend were accused of fomenting unrest. Five were released by Monday night, and Press TV said that three more were released Wednesday, leaving one still in custody. That employee, Fars said Wednesday, “had a remarkable role during the recent unrest in managing it behind the scenes.”

As the dispute unfolded, the European Union said it would support Britain, but it has been unclear what form that backing would take. Britain has been pushing for a tough response, while Germany, Iran’s biggest trading partner in the European Union, is being more cautious.

Here's betting that the Europeans do nothing. You don't think they'd jeopardize all those billions of dollars in trade, do you?

But if I were them, I'd be worried about those 27 ambassadors and their staff being 'arrested.' It's happened in Iran before.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:28 PM