British ambassador is accused of attending an ‘illegal gathering’

by Abbas Adil

The British ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, has been summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry for “unconventional behavior” inconsistent with his diplomatic status and being present in an “illegal gathering”.

The British government continues to maintain the fiction that its ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, was “detained” yesterday evening, even though the evidence suggests that the ambassador was briefly arrested as an “unknown” foreigner.

Indeed, Iranian deputy foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, earlier tweeted that once Macaire’s credentials had been fully established he was promptly released.

Araghchi, who was replying to a tweet by the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, who had expressed concern about the “temporary detention” of Macaire, confirmed that the British ambassador had attended an illegal gathering.

He wasn’t detained, but arrested as unknown foreigner in an illegal gathering. When police informed me a man’s arrested who claims to be UK Amb, I said IMPOSSIBLE! only after my phone conversation w him I identified, out of big surprise, that it’s him. 15 min later he was free.

For his part, Macaire continues to insist that he was “detained” after leaving a vigil for the victims of the doomed Ukraine International Airlines flight 752.

The incident comes at a time of high tension between Iran and the UK, prompted by the latter’s support for the assassination of Iranian Quds force commander, General Soleimani, by US forces.

The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has tried to frame the incident in the broader context of escalating tensions between Iran on the one hand and the UK and the UK on the other.

In a muscular statement released yesterday, Raab claimed that the Iranian government is at a “cross-roads” moment without sufficiently clarifying what that means.

Further, Raab appeared to threaten Iran with “political and economic isolation” in the event of the latter not engaging in a “diplomatic path forwards”.

Raab’s statement makes no mention of the fact that that it was the UK’s close ally, the US, which suddenly escalated by assassinating Iran’s national hero, General Soleimani, in a drone strike outside Baghdad airport earlier this month.

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