The Embassy of Iran in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
is the
diplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...
of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
It is located in a
terrace
Terrace may refer to:
Landforms and construction
* Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river
* Terrace, a street suffix
* Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...
overlooking
Hyde Park in
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
,
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
, London, next to the
embassy of Ethiopia.
Iran also maintains a Consular Section at 50 Kensington Court,
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
.
The embassy building, along with the Ethiopian Embassy and the
Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum
The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum ( pl, Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego), known as Sikorski Institute, named after General Władysław Sikorski, is a leading London-based museum and archive for research into Poland during W ...
, is one of a group of
Grade II listed stucco buildings.
The embassy was the location of the 1980
Iranian Embassy siege in which members of the Iranian-Arab nationalist group the
seized the building for several days before being overrun by the
SAS.
The embassy was severely damaged during the siege and did not re-open until 1993.
Following the
2011 attack on the British Embassy in Iran, the British government expelled all Iranian embassy staff and closed the embassy in protest, alleging government support for the attack. Between 2011 and 2014, Iranian interests in the UK were represented by the
Omani Embassy.
Anglo-Iranian relations have improved since the election of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Hassan Rouhani and the countries made plans to re-open the embassy.
On February 20, 2014 the Embassy was restored and the two countries agreed to restart
diplomatic relations
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
.
On March 9, 2018 four people from
Khoddam Al-Mahdi were arrested after climbing onto the first-floor balcony of the Embassy and taking down the Iranian flag in an apparent protest against the government in Tehran due to the arrest of the Islamic scholar
Hussein al-Shirazi in Qom three days earlier.
On September 25, 2022, there were angry protests outside the Embassy, mostly by the
Iranian diaspora in the United Kingdom, following the
death of Mahsa Amini
On 16 September 2022, the 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini,; ku, ژینا ئەمینی, Jîna Emînî died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious mor ...
in police custody on September 16. Demonstrators waved the pre-1979 Iranian flag and chanted "Death to the Islamic Republic". Five Metropolitan Police officers were injured and twelve arrests were made.
Gallery
File:16 Princes Gate.jpg, The embassy in 2008
File:Zz embassy.jpg, The embassy as it appeared after the hostage crisis, 1980
References
{{Iran–United Kingdom relations
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
Diplomatic missions of Iran
Iran–United Kingdom relations
Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster
South Kensington