Sucks to be UK
The Iranian clerics show they just don’t get Christian charity:
A top Iranian cleric said Friday that some of the detained Iranian staffers of the British Embassy in Tehran will be put on trial, and he accused Britain of a role in instigating widespread protests that erupted over the country’s disputed presidential election.
The announcement by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati came a day after the European Union demanded Iran release the staffers, who were detained on June 27. Britain is pressing EU countries to pull their ambassadors out of Tehran in protest.
Jannati, a powerful hard-liner who is close to Iran’s supreme leader, told worshippers during a Friday prayer sermon in Tehran that the detained staffers “made confessions.”
“In these events, their embassy had a presence,” he said, referring to the post-election turmoil. “Some people were arrested. Well, inevitably, they will be put on trial.”
He did not say how many staffers will be tried or on what charges.
It hardly matters, does it? I mean, they just hanged some protesters, so what do they need with charges?
But Britain is… say it with me… concerned:
In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said of Jannati’s comments that British officials are “very concerned about these reports and are investigating.”
A little background on Jannati (who’s not Italian, strangely enough):
Jannati does not hold a position in the government or judiciary, but is the head of the Guardian Council, a powerful body in Iran’s ruling clerical hierarchy that stands above the elected government. He is also close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
…
Jannati took a tough line, indirectly accusing Mousavi of treason.
Though he did not name Mousavi directly, Jannati pointed out that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, once said that “anyone disrupts unity has not only committed a sin but also has committed treason against the Islamic Republic and the system.”
Jannati demanded that those involved in the protests “repent and ask God to forgive them.”
Anyhow, the clerics won (as President Obama would say), so let’s just move on:
Denied the public space to continue its campaign except through relatively muted and scattered protest actions, the center of gravity of the challenge to Ahmadinejad’s camp will likely move behind closed doors. Mousavi implied as much in his statement, saying that he will be joining a group that will push for reforms through legal means.
Because the mullahcracy has shown its respect for and deference to “legal means”. Yeah, that ought to work.
PS: HotAir, meanwhile, wonders what the UK and the EU are going to do about it?
The EU, meanwhile, has been stunned by the speed in which their trading partner has turned on them in the crisis. Since the US has no diplomatic presence in Iran, the mullahs had to find another scapegoat for its blameshifting, although they still managed to prominently mention the CIA. Now that Britain, France, and Germany have all been called evil by the regime, the three nations at the core of the European Union wonder what to do next.
…
According to media reports, the EU is now discussing the possibility of withdrawing all its 27 ambassadors from Tehran. Senior officials from member states were planning to discuss the issue at a meeting in Stockholm Thursday.
Boy, they sure can play hardball.