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Britain evacuated its ambassador and all consular staff from Tehran on Wednesday, closing its embassy temporarily amid escalating security concerns as Iran's government confronts what officials describe as the worst domestic unrest in the Islamic Republic's history.
The British Foreign Office confirmed the closure following a security assessment that prioritized staff safety. The embassy will now operate remotely, and travel advisories have been updated to reflect the consular changes, according to a government spokesperson.
The evacuation comes as protests have swept Iran in recent days, with authorities conducting what observers characterize as their most severe crackdown in years. Thousands have reportedly been killed in the unrest, which Iranian leadership has blamed on foreign interference.
Britain and the United States have also withdrawn some personnel from military bases across the Middle East after a senior Iranian official warned neighboring countries that Tehran would strike American installations if Washington launched attacks against Iran.
The Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Pakpour said Wednesday that Iran stands at "the height of readiness to respond decisively to the miscalculation of the enemy." In a statement carried by state television, he accused U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the "murderers of the youth of Iran."
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Fox News that the government had regained control after what he described as three days of "terrorist operation," stating "now there is a calm. We are in full control."
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, speaking from exile to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, urged the Trump administration to consider "highly targeted actions" against Iran's supreme leader and senior Revolutionary Guard commanders rather than full-scale military intervention.
"Preventing the massacre of the Iranian people does not require a full-scale war, it does not require killing more people," Ebadi said. "What we are asking for is not war, but concrete steps to stop the killing of civilians."
The 2003 Nobel laureate also called for jamming technology to disrupt Iranian state-run media, arguing that cutting communication channels between the regime and its security forces would help stop the spread of propaganda. She cited the July 2024 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, attributed to Israel, as an example of precision strikes that avoided civilian casualties.
US President Trump has publicly threatened to intervene in Iran's internal crisis, though he has not specified what form such intervention might take. The administration's consideration of options comes as Iran's leadership works to suppress protests that represent an unprecedented challenge to the government's authority.
The British government has not indicated when it might reopen its Tehran embassy or what specific security developments would need to occur before staff return to the diplomatic facility.
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