Iran Arrests British Embassy Staff Members

[82Rigger]

Well, here we go again.

This time it's the British Embassy's folks instead of ours.

Looks like Ahmadinedouchebag is trying to beat North Korea's #1 as Asshole-of-the-Year.




CBS/AP) Iranian media reported Sunday that authorities had detained eight employees of the British Embassy in Tehran for an alleged role in post-election protests, signaling a hardening of Iran's stance toward the West.

British foreign secretary David Miliband said he's deeply concerned about the fate of eight Iranian employees of Britain's Tehran office, reports CBS News correspondent Larry Miller.

The eight were arrested and accused of having played a "significant role" in the post-election protests and in provoking those demonstrations, the semi-official Fars news agency said in a report also cited by Iran's English-language, state-run Press TV. The reports gave no further details.

Miliband has demanded their release, describing their detentions as "harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable."

Miliband, who is on the Greek island of Corfu for a foreign ministers' meeting, said Britain has protested to the Iranian authorities about the arrests, which he said occurred Saturday.

Iran has accused the West of stoking unrest following a bitterly disputed June 12 presidential election, singling out Britain and the U.S. for alleged meddling. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has alleged massive fraud, and claims he is the rightful winner.

Iran's government has tried to discredit opposition supporters by alleging they have been directed by the West. Britain, as a former colonial power in the region, has been a prominent target. The British have also drawn fire because of the BBC's prominent role as trusted broadcaster in Farsi inside Iran.

Last week, Iran expelled two British diplomats, and Britain responded in kind. Iran has also said it's considering downgrading diplomatic ties with Britain.

On Friday, a senior Iranian cleric, Ahmed Khatami, lashed out at Britain in a nationally televised sermon. "In this unrest, Britons have behaved very mischievously and it is fair to add the slogan of 'Down with England' to the slogan of 'Down with U.S.A.,'" he said.

The U.S. and Europe have become increasingly vocal about their condemnation of Iran's harsh crackdown. Iran's leaders have pushed back with angry rhetoric, and the confrontation appears to be dashing hopes for a new dialogue, as initially envisioned by President Barack Obama when he took office.

Iran's rulers have unleashed club-wielding militiamen to crush street protests and arrested hundreds of journalists, students and activists. A special court is to try protesters, and Khatami demanded harsh sentences, including the death penalty, for those found guilty.

Despite the clampdown, Mousavi signaled he is not dropping his political challenge. In a new statement, he insisted on a repeat of the election and rejected a partial recount being proposed by the government. Still, Mousavi's challenge seemed largely aimed at maintaining some role as an opposition figure.

The latest statement by Mousavi, who is increasingly isolated in the past week, appeared Sunday on Ghalamnews, a Web site run by supporters. Mousavi-related Web sites have frequently been blocked by the government, and one was shut down by hackers last week.

Iran's top electoral body, the 12-member Guardian Council, has proposed recounting 10 percent of the votes. On Friday, the council offered to bring in six more political figures to oversee a partial recount, presumably to give the effort greater legitimacy in the eyes of the challengers.

However, Mousavi reiterated his demand for nullification as "the most suitable solution to restore public confidence." He called for independent arbiters to settle the dispute.

Another defeated candidate, Mahdi Karroubi, also expressed doubt that a fair review is possible.

"How is it possible to answer controversies through counting some ballots?" he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council, published Sunday in his newspaper, Etemad-e-Melli.

A third candidate, Mohsen Rezaei, said he would only send a representative to the council, for observation of a re-count, if the other two candidates did the same.

[reconeil]

WOW!!!,...Those Iranians! What unsophisticated ancient backwoods boobs,...making A-
Big-Deal about an Obviously Rigged Election? What Lordly Ruled INGRATES!

Maybe Iranians will eventually become just as layed-back, passive & meekly accepting as we were after our last Domestic & Foreign Progressive Rigged Election Being BOUGHT (both domestically & from abroad),...which most Lordly Ruled Americans apparently have accepted with nary a whimper?

Hey,...you never know?
Maybe even Osama Bin Laden will soon similarly cave-into Lordly Rulers & Lordly Political Rule Demands or Dictates? We can always hope while stocking-up on ammo.

Neil

[82Rigger]

I wish there was some way we could lay a nuke in Pyongyang and make it look like it came from Iran.

[SuperScout]

So the Brits have had some of the diplomats arrested, eh? I just hope and pray that their leader, whomever he is this week, has more cajones than that gutless wonder we had at the time of our troubles in Tehran. If the Brits have their version of Jimma Cahta, woe be unto those folks.

[82Rigger]

Jimmy Cahta?

You mean, Jimmy Do-little?

[SuperScout]

One and the same. Now this moron wants the US to remove Hamas from the "known terrorists list," while they still have the elimination of Israel from the map as one of their objectives. Jimma is what the Democrat party has become, a group of loony tunes, who are not working in the best interests of the United States of America.

America deserves better leaders. Perhaps if we as a people repent, and confess our sins, we'll be blessed with better leaders.

[reconeil]

That Peanut Farmer NEVER QUITS!!!
"Jimmy Who?" is even more of a National Embarrassment NOW than was in 1980.

Both Carter & that other like-minded anti-America geriatric fool Castro must drink a lot of
Geritol? They just keep chuggin-along spoutin-the-same-s--t, no matter how old they get.

Whatever,...both sure unequivocatingly prove that quip of: "The Good Die Young".
Both cranky old farts,...just won't give it up.

I figure Castro MUST'VE been A Democrat once too, since what else could explain why such leaders constantly think & spout nonsense so much alike?

Is there any truth in that Carter, Castro, Chavez, Obama & Pelosi are all somehow related.
Sure seems so to me. All alluded to seem like products of incest or very close inter-marriages.
Have any of you others here noticed that?