Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Barbarians

Why does anybody keep an embassy in Tehran?

Dozens of hard-line Iranian students stormed the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, bringing down the Union Jack flag and throwing documents from windows in scenes reminiscent of the anger against Western powers after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The mob moved into the diplomatic compound two days after Iran's parliament approved a bill that reduces diplomatic relations with Britain following London's support of recently upgraded Western sanctions on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

The protesters broke through after clashing with anti-riot police and chanting for its takeover. "Death to England," some cried in the first significant assault of a foreign diplomatic area in Iran in years.

Yeah, we want this kind of crowd to have nuclear weapons.

UPDATE: No Iranian embassy situation is complete without hostages:

Iranian protesters briefly took six British embassy staff hostage on Tuesday when they stormed two diplomatic compounds in Tehran, smashing windows, hurling petrol bombs and burning the British flag in a protest against sanctions imposed by Britain.

Briefly. This time.

I'd also like to point out that Britain's arsenal of 160 operational nuclear weapons did not deter non-nuclear Iran from assaulting their sovereign territory and seizing--however briefly--British citizens.