From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 23, 2015
UK’s Tehran embassy opens with ‘Death to England’ scrawled on queen’s portrait
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleA surprise awaited British VIPs in Tehran at the reopening of the UK embassy to Iran Sunday.
The Telegraph reports that “death to England” is scrawled in Persian above a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II inside the embassy building, as well as in other locations in the compound.
The graffiti and some damage were left when mobs stormed the embassy after the UK broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran four years ago.
According to The Telegraph, “Officials claimed that removing the graffiti without damaging the building’s elegant Victorian walls required specialists who had not yet been brought in. But there was surprise that the offending graffiti, which was written in Persian, had not been covered up anyway prior to [UK Foreign Minister] Hammond’s visit.”
The Times of Israel Community.