The deputy head of Iran’s Parliament says the attack on the British Embassy in Tehran in December of 2011 was “illegal” and must be condemned.
Mohammadreza Bahonar, who is running for president in the June 2013 election, told a press conference: “We do not approve of illegal behaviour in the country, irrespective of where it stems from.”
In December of 2011, a group of Islamic Republic supporters who were identified as Basij students demonstrated in front of the British Embassy in support of parliamentary motions to reduce relations with Britain. Demonstrators eventually took over the embassy and a British diplomatic residence north of Tehran.
Those events brought an end to British-Iranian relations and were condemned by the United Nations and Western countries.
Bahonar stressed that foreign embassies are under government protection unless they have committed a crime that must be processed though the judicial system.
Back in 2011, the Islamic Republic condemned the attack on the British embassy, describing it as a genuine reflection of public animosity against Britain.