Great Britain temporarily recalled its ambassador from Iran. This was announced by the head of the British Foreign Ministry, James Cleverly Twitter.
London also summoned the charge d'affaires and imposed sanctions on Iran's attorney general. This was a response to the execution of the former deputy defense minister of Iran, Alireza Akbari, who had a second British citizenship.
"We are holding the regime accountable. Today, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Iran's attorney general, summoned a chargé d'affaires and temporarily recalled the British ambassador for consultations. Our response to Iran is not limited to today, we are considering further actions,” Cleverley wrote.
The day before, the state agency Mizan reported that former deputy defense minister Alirez Akbari was hanged in Iran.
Akbari was arrested by Iranian authorities in 2019, after which he was charged with spying for the British intelligence agency MI-6. A video was posted on the Internet in which he admits to working for British intelligence. However, human rights activists point out that the video shows numerous traces of editing, and apparently the confession was forced out of Akbari by torture.
The British Foreign Office called this execution of a British subject a "barbarism" that "deserves condemnation in the strongest terms." The country's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in turn, declared the "heartless and cowardly" act of "a regime that does not respect the rights of its own citizens."
