EU nations summon Iranian envoys over embassy detentions

(BRUSSELS) - EU nations summoned Iranian ambassadors Friday in protest at the detention of British embassy employees in Tehran, some of whom could be tried for stoking post-election unrest, according to a cleric.

"We are summoning the Iranian ambassadors throughout the European Union and we will be monitoring the situation next week concerning the local personnel from the British embassy," a Swedish EU presidency official said.

"All options remain open," he added.

The 27 EU nations stopped short Friday of implementing some of the options which have already been mooted, such as pulling their own ambassadors out of Tehran and introducing visa restrictions on Iranian officials.

Europe is keen to avoid totally alienating the regime at a time when the international community is seeking to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium for its nuclear programme.

Hence European diplomats were all stressing the need for a "measured response" to the embassy detentions.

While the West fears Iran's nuclear programme has a military aim, Tehran insists that it is purely a civil energy initiative.

A German foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that Berlin had pulled the Iranian ambassador in, adding: "If the current situation doesn't change that will immediately affect relations between the European Union and Iran."

The summoning of ambassadors and charges d'affaires "is happening during the day, some have already summoned the envoy there," a diplomat said in Brussels.

A total of nine local staff at the British embassy in Tehran were initially arrested late last month but the British government said seven have been released, while Iranian state television has said only one remains in custody.

Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran's Guardians Council, said at Friday prayers in Tehran that some of the arrested embassy staff would be put on trial for their role in stoking post-election violence.

Iran accuses the British embassy employees of instigating riots in unrest that erupted over the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which his rivals say was fraudulent and marred by widespread irregularities.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Friday he was "urgently seeking clarification" of the announcement that some embassy employees will face trial.

Miliband said he was "deeply concerned" about staff being detained, stressing his confidence that they had not engaged in illegal activities.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the EU must show "a united front" towards Iran over the detentions.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, visiting Stockholm, expressed France's "total solidarity" with "our British friends" over the affair.

"It's up to the British to tell us what they need," the French president added.

The idea of summoning Iranian ambassadors arose from a meeting of EU political directors in Stockholm on Thursday.

It was endorsed at a meeting of European ambassadors in Brussels Friday.

One European diplomat said that withdrawing European ambassadors from Tehran remained an option, but stressed the measured approach.

"Since the idea of pulling out all EU ambassadors has been floated (on Sunday) seven out of the nine embassy detainees have been freed. This is a measured approach and we have to give some flexibility to those in Iran seeking to help us to obtain our goals," she told AFP.

"You have to link your response to what is going on," she added.

The idea of pulling out ambassadors had also received an unenthusiastic response among London's EU partners, who feel it is the kind of radical measure which could complicate the resumption of the nuclear talks.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed hope Sunday that talks between Tehran and the Group of Six -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- over Iran's uranium enrichment activities would resume soon.