Two men confess to UK embassy attacks in Iran

06 October 2003
Two men on 4 October admitted firing shots at the UK embassy in August, according to an Iranian minister. 'These individuals are not affiliated to any organisations or bodies and their actions were based purely on adventurism,' said Iranian intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi. 'They are thugs motivated by the search for thrills.' The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) welcomed the announcement.

The two men fired at the UK mission on three separate occasions in August. Nobody was injured during the attacks, but the embassy buildings were slightly damaged. The FCO reduced the number of staff present at the embassy as a precautionary measure and banned Iranian nationals from the compound. The incidents caused added tension between London and Tehran, already heightened over the arrest in the UK of former Iranian diplomat Hadi Soleimanpour. Soleimanpour is wanted by Argentina in connection with the 1984 bombing of a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires where he was serving as Iran's ambassador (MEED 15:9:03).

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