The World : Britain Ousts 5 Iranians

Britain, outraged by the beating and abduction of one of its diplomats in Tehran, closed Iran’s consulate in Manchester and ordered five Iranian diplomats to leave the country within a week. The Iranian Embassy in London was not affected. Iran is expected to retaliate, possibly with the expulsion of a similar number of British diplomats. Britain’s action stemmed from an incident in Tehran last week in which Edward Chaplin, London’s second-ranking diplomat there, was detained for 24 hours and beaten. Chaplin was abducted just hours after the arrest in Manchester of Iranian diplomat Ali Ghassemi on shoplifting charges. Ghassemi is one of the five being expelled by Britain.