Britain orders closure of Iranian embassy in London

Britain has ordered the closure of the Iranian embassy in London and told all staff to leave after protesters attacked the British embassy in Tehran yesterday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

In a statement to parliament today, Hague said Iranian diplomats "must leave the United Kingdom within the next 48 hours".

Hague said there must have been "some degree of regime consent" in the attack on the British embassy in Iran.

"The idea that the Iranian authorities could not have protected our embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of regime consent is fanciful," he told the Commons.