The UK ambassador to Iran was arrested and briefly detained after he was spotted observing a protest in the country’s capital of Tehran that were sparked after the Iranian government announced its military had accidentally shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight 752.
53-year-old Rob Macaire’s detention in Iran led to the UK government accusing the Islamic Republic of a “flagrant violation of international law”.
In a statement the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:
“The Iranian government is at a cross-roads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails or take steps to deescalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards.”
The protests in Iran are the latest in a series of embarrassing developments for the Mullah regime.
The Ukrainian airlines plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile the same night Iran launched a token response to the US’ assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by firing a number of missiles at military bases in Iraq where US troops were based.
At the time of this attack Iranian air defences were on high alert in case of a potential retaliatory strike by the US and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officer has admitted he gave the order to fire after being told the US had launched cruise missiles against Iran which he mistook for the plane.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.