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UK: Shots fired at Iran embassy
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain says it has temporarily closed its embassy in Iran's capital after shots were fired at it from the street. The Foreign Office said no one was hurt in the shooting, which comes amid tension between the countries after a former Iranian diplomat was arrested in Britain over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina that killed 85. "Just before midday today local time, five shots were fired from the street at the British Embassy in Tehran," she said on Wednesday. "The bullets hit offices on the first and second floors of the building. Nobody was injured in the incident, but the embassy has been temporarily closed for business." The main building inside the embassy's one-block compound was hit by the gunfire which broke windows and caused damage, according to an embassy spokesman who was inside the building at the time of the shooting. The spokesman, who would not give his name, said the building was surrounded by a 4-meter wall and set back about 5 meters from the street. Britain's Ambassador to Tehran, Richard Dalton, was in touch with local authorities and the Iranian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the spokeswoman said. The Foreign Office would not speculate how long the embassy would remain closed. The building has been on a heightened state of alert since the current diplomatic crisis with Iran began. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters that the security has been beefed up around the compound and police were investigating the shooting, which he described as an "irresponsible act." The incident took place just hours after the announcement that Iran had temporarily recalled its British ambassador, Morteza Sarmadi, for consultation over the dispute over the arrest of former diplomat Hadi Soleimanpour. The Foreign Office in London has denied that Sarmadi's departure amounts to any downgrading of relations. Soleimanpour, who is in custody at Argentina's request, has protested his innocence. Iran says his detention is politically motivated. It has promised "strong action" and warned Britain that the issue would harm bilateral ties. -- Journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr in Tehran and CNN's Eden Pontz in London contributed to this report.
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