In escalating tensions between the two nations, Iran’s hard-line government has arrested nine local staff at the British embassy in Tehran.

The government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was ostensibly reelected, has accused the staff members of being behind the demonstrations that rocked Iran for days as supporters of opposition candidate Moussavi accused the government of fabricating a victory for conservative Ahmadinejad.

British Foreign Minister David Miliband made the following state in Greece today [June 28]: “The United Kingdom is deeply concerned at the arrest and, in some cases, continued detention of some of our hard-working, locally engaged staff in Tehran. This is harassment and intimidation of a kind which is quite unacceptable.

“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. We have protested in strong terms, directly to the Iranian authorities, about the arrests that took place yesterday.”

All of the arrested staff are Iranian citizens, and some of whom have been subsequently released. This act by the Iranian government comes on the heels of Iran’s decision to arbitrarily declare two British diplomats persona non grata shortly after the riots broke out. The Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei specifically singled out Britain for its supposed involvement in inciting demonstrators. The British kicked out two Iranian diplomats in return.

Iran and Britain have long had a tense relationship, though they do maintain diplomatic relations unlike Iran and the United States [relations were suspended in 1979 after the Islamic Revolution and then restored in 1988]. It was the United Kingdom that pushed for the overthrow of Iran’s democratic government in 1953 in an effort to maintain Britain’s imperialistic oil interests in the country [Iran’s then government wanted to split oil revenue 50/50, but Britain insisted on a 90[or 80]/10 split in Britain’s favor and then overthrew the government to prevent such a change].

But what may be at play her is not the reviving of an old antagonism, but, rather, the hard-line government may be seeking to raise international opposition so as then to justify a domestic crackdown under the rubric that the world is attacking Iran and Iranians should then patriotically rally around their “president”.