Expelled Iranian Diplomats Arrive In Tehran

Iranian diplomats expelled from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran have arrived home, according to the official Irna news agency.

It confirmed the news that roughly two dozen diplomats and their families had returned via an Iran Air charter flight.

But 150 hard line regime supporters who waited with flower necklaces at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to give the diplomats a hero's welcome were thwarted by officials.

The Iranian government, apparently opposed to any high-profile display that could worsen the fallout, whisked the diplomats away unseen from a backdoor.

The move to downplay their arrival was seen by observers as reflecting Iran's own internal political rifts as it struggles with its most serious diplomatic rift with the West in decades.

Last Tuesday's ransacking of the British embassy in Tehran - believed by the UK Government to have been sanctioned by Tehran's ruling elite - deepened Iran's isolation, which has grown over the decade-long standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.

Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors for consultation, and Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.

It amounted to the most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the US embassy after the Islamic revolution, and some Iranian political figures have voiced doubts over whether anything can be gained from escalating the diplomatic battle.

The obstruction of the Tehran welcome ceremony reflected the disagreements between hard-liners and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which opposed downgrading relations with Britain and condemned the attack on its embassy.

Iran's relations with Britain have become increasingly strained in recent months, largely due to tensions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a key component of its nuclear programme.

The process is of deep concern internationally because it can be used to produce material for nuclear warheads in addition to reactor fuel. Iran insists the programme is entirely peaceful.

Along with the US and other EU nations, Britain has backed sanctions that have so far failed to push Iran to halt its enrichment programme.

Hard line supporters in Iran have said the embassy attack was an outpouring of the wrath of the Iranian people who believe the UK is hostile and seeking to damage and weaken the Islamic republic.

Mohammad Mohammadian, a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the attackers saying they had targeted the "epicentre of sedition."

Britain's ambassador to Iran, Dominick Chilcott - now back in Britain - offered details of the attack , saying the experience had been "frightening."

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential travel to Iran by British nationals.

:: EU governments have also agreed to increase the pressure on Syria, adding 11 entities and 12 people to its sanctions list .