TEHRAN — In an interview with IRNA published Saturday, an expert on international affairs called on the Western governments to hand in the rioters who attacked Iran’s diplomatic missions in Europe.

Hassan Hanizadeh spoke of the recent aggression in Copenhagen, where an attacker entered into the premise of the Iranian embassy with a cold weapon and injured a local embassy staffer.

“The recent action of an armed attacker who tried to assassinate Iran’s Ambassador in Denmark shows that Copenhagen has turned into a country that collaborates against Tehran and accompanies terrorist elements who act against Iran,” he opined.

Based on international law, he said, host countries are responsible to provide security for diplomatic missions. 

The expert added that host countries must not allow the security of diplomats to be endangered by media hypes against another country.

Recounting the incident on April 30, 1980 in London where six armed secessionists attacked Iran’s embassy in Kensington and took a number of embassy staffers hostage for six days, Hanizadeh said this is not the first time that secessionists have joined hands with the Israeli regime to disrupt the security of Iran’s diplomatic missions.

Continuing his example, Hanizadeh added, “Due to the procrastination of London’s police and the UK government’s inaction towards the secessionist terrorists’ moves in London in 1980, unfortunately two embassy staffers were martyred and two others were wounded.”

According to the expert, Mujahedin-E-Khalq (MEK) members in Paris and London have recently tried to attack Iran’s diplomatic missions in the aforementioned cities, but their plans were foiled due to the vigilance of the Iranian diplomats.

Hanizadeh went on to note that despite their claims about following international protocols and conventions, the European governments are working hand in hand with the terrorist groups they are hosting. 

“Therefore, based on international law, the Islamic Republic has the right to ask the European governments to arrest the terrorists who endangered Iranian diplomats and hand them in to the Iranian government,” Hanizadeh concluded.