BEIRUT – A senior Iranian cleric said Friday that employees of the British Embassy in Tehran arrested in recent days would be put on trial for unspecified charges of acting against Iran's national security, a move denounced by members of the European Union.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the conservative Guardian Council, said in a Friday prayer sermon that the employees, all of them Iranians, "will definitely be tried."

They are accused of taking part in or promoting unrest after the June 12 presidential election, which was marred by opposition allegations of vote-rigging.

"The enemy made an effort to poison the people," Jannati, who is politically close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told worshipers gathered in Tehran. "They had planned a velvet revolution before the election. ... A number of people at the British Embassy were arrested for involvement in the unrests, and they will definitely be tried."

Eight or nine employees of the embassy's political section were arrested last weekend. All but two have been released, according to the British Foreign Ministry.

Jannati did not say how many would be put on trial or on what specific charges.

Sweden, which recently took on the rotating leadership of the EU, immediately criticized Jannati's threat.

"It's not acceptable to file charges against the ones released or to the ones still in custody," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a written statement.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said his nation was "urgently seeking clarification" of Jannati's remarks.

"We are confident that our staff have not engaged in any improper or illegal behavior," he said. "We remain deeply concerned about the two members of our staff who remain in detention in Iran."

EU nations began summoning Iranian ambassadors to complain about the arrests in a coordinated response. They are also weighing the possibility of pulling all 27 member nations' ambassadors from Tehran as well as imposing a travel ban on Iranian officials to protest the arrests, but they want to wait for Iran's next move regarding the embassy employees, European news media reported.

Los Angeles Times

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