Britain Won’t Accept Iranian Envoy Who Led Hostage-Takers
Britain has blocked Iran’s appointment of a former student leader of the U.S. Embassy hostage siege in Tehran as its top diplomat in London, diplomatic sources said today.
They said Iran was furious at Britain’s refusal to extend a visa to Hussein Malaek, a senior official at the Iranian Foreign Ministry chosen to serve as charge d’affaires in London.
Iranian sources said Malaek was prominent among the 100 or so Islamic students who led the takeover of the U.S. Embassy compound in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. Fifty-two of the Americans seized were held captive in Iran for 444 days.
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