Entering British Embassy by Iranian Students: Lessons for the West

After Iranian parliament approved on Sunday the bill concerning downgrading Iran-UK relations and expelling the British ambassador, thousands of Iranian people and students, protested the latest British sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, demanded Tehran break relations with London completely. It was the greatest Iranian people protest against the British policies against Iran which led to closure of Iranian embassy in London and expelling British diplomatic staff from Tehran.
The main question relating to these developments is “What the expelling of British diplomats from Tehran tells the west?”
First of all, it proved that Iranian government would not come to negotiation table by toughening sanction against it. Putting more pressure on Iran to convince this country to change its behavior is a wrong old irrational policy which has not been succeeded during more than 30 years of Iranian revolution.
Second, putting more sanction on Iran may force Iran to take stricter approaches on different issues rather to soften its position on them.
Third, the west will lose any kind of Iranian people sympathy in this situation. Iranian nationalism is a great element which if arise could not be stopped by any action and in this case the west cannot find any supporter within Iran to pursue its policies. The Iranian students’ reaction to UK polices was a single simple response to that policies which must be taken seriously from the west.
Forth, the Iranian people protest against UK was a response to British policies during long time of history since their presence in the Persian Gulf and the region since 17th century. It was not only a response to sanction which recently has been adopted by the UK on Iranian central bank. So the west cannot simply interpret the students’ entering in British embassy as a response to increasing sanctions. The sanction was only a catalyst to do so.
Fifth, continuing diplomatic and political relations with the west while they are gathering everyday to put more sanction against Iran and even threat Iran to military attack, is meaningless. They cannot use political relations with Iran as leverage to increase pressure on the country.
Last not the least; Iranian people have proved that they do not consider the diplomatic limitations of relations between countries. While the Iranian government and parliament have some kind of conservatism in their polices, the Iranian people do not have these kinds of restrictions. This indicates that Iranian people not only do not fear economic isolation, but also do not fear political isolation too.