Iran has dismissed four commanders of its informal voluntary Basij milita who were involved in the storming of the British embassy in Tehran last year.
The men were believed to be leaders of a mob that ransacked the embassy and its separate residential compound, the Qolhak Gardens, last November. The attacks provoked a diplomatic crisis between Tehran and London.
Iran's SNN student news agency reported on Sunday that the four commanders had been replaced. The four are all Basij commanders at Tehran universities: Mohammad-Saeed Sarafraz from Sharif University, Hossein Pishva from Amirkabir University, Amin Hasani from Elm-o-Sanat University and Mohammad-Mehdi Safarharani from Shahid Beheshti University.
"Four Basij commanders at Tehran universities who led the attack against the British embassy and the Qolhak compound last November have been dismissed," said Digarban, a European-based Iranian website that monitors state-affiliated agencies.
In response to the attack, the UK withdrew all its diplomatic staff from Tehran, shut down the Iranian embassy in London, and ordered the expulsion of all Iran's diplomats.
Iran's foreign ministry was embarrassed by the attack, which is believed to have been carried out by hardliners close to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rather than those sympathetic to the government.
After a recent meeting between the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, and his British counterpart, William Hague, on the sidelines of a conference in Kabul, reports emerged that the two countries have agreed for proxies to represent them, in the absence of their embassies. Oman is to host Iran's interest section in London, while Sweden will act for the UK in Tehran.
Iran's parliament, dominated by conservatives and hardliners, summoned Salehi in reaction to his meeting with Hague, and the Basij issued a statement warning against any attempts to reopen the British embassy in Tehran.
