'Iran trial' for UK embassy staff

Anti-British protests have been held outside the UK embassy in Tehran Some UK embassy staff detained in Tehran and accused of inciting protests after disputed elections will face trial, a top Iranian cleric says. Guardians Council chief Ahmad Jannati said: "Naturally they will be put on trial, they have made confessions." Nine embassy staff were held in Tehran last weekend. The UK government says all except two have now been released. EU governments are considering temporarily withdrawing ambassadors to Iran in protest at the detentions. "In these incidents, their embassy had a presence, some people were arrested," Ayatollah Jannati told the thousands of worshippers at Friday prayers, according to news agencies. 'Velvet revolution' planHe did not say how many employees would be tried or on what charges.Protests gripped Tehran and other Iranian cities after June's presidential election, amid claims the vote had been rigged in favour of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ayatollah Jannati added: "After the election, the enemy could not stand people's joy. The enemy made an effort to poison the people. They had planned a velvet revolution before the election." He said the UK foreign office had warned of possible "street riots" around the 12 June election and had advised its nationals to avoid public places. Claims 'without foundation' Tehran has repeatedly accused foreign powers - especially Britain and the US - of meddling after the election and stoking the unrest. Britain has protested strongly against the arrests and rejected the Iranian allegations as baseless."We are very concerned by these reports and are investigating. Allegations that our staff were involved in fermenting unrest are wholly without foundation," a British foreign office statement said on Friday. Five of the nine employees were reportedly released on Monday and Iranian state media said on Wednesday it had freed three more, but British and EU officials say two remain in custody. Iran's semi-official Fars television station reported this week that one of the detainees had played a "remarkable role during the recent unrest in managing it behind the scenes". Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last month described Britain, as the "most evil" of its enemies. In the fallout from the crisis, Tehran expelled two British diplomats and the UK responded with a similar measure. Historians says the distrust between the UK and Iran stems from the 1800s, when Iran - then Persia - was forced to concede territory to Russia in a treaty drafted by a British diplomat. In more modern times, British operatives backed a CIA-organised coup in 1953 against an elected Iranian government. In 2007, Iran seized 15 British navy personnel on patrol in waters between Iraq and Iran and held them for 12 days, during which time they were paraded on national television. Britain is also among the most vocal opponents of Iran's nuclear programme, saying its aim is to develop atomic weapons, a claim denied by Tehran.