Thousands of Iranians ignore leaders' threats, march in unauthorized rally

"We have photos and videos of certain local employees of the British Embassy who collected news about the protests."

He accused the embassy of fueling the unrest by dispatching staff to rallies and spreading anti-government propaganda.

Foreign ministers of European states, gathered for a European Union conference in Greece, quickly condemned the arrests. Although the U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, France, Italy, Germany and Britain maintain robust diplomatic missions in Tehran.

"Harassment or intimidation of foreign or Iranian staff working in embassies will be met with a strong and collective EU response," said a statement issued by the foreign ministers.

Authorities with a search warrant detained at least one of the embassy staffers at his home Saturday morning. He was brought back to his apartment later in the evening, and authorities seized computers and documents.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned the arrest and continued detention of "hardworking" embassy staff.

"This is harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable," he said in an interview on BBC. "We want to see [them] released unharmed."

Britain expelled two Iranian diplomats from London last week after Tehran booted two British diplomats. Iranian authorities also ordered a BBC correspondent out of Tehran and arrested a British-Greek journalist.

In addition, Iranian authorities have targeted local United Nations staffers.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appealed for unity in comments broadcast Sunday on state television. "I urge both sides not to provoke the sentiments of the youth and refrain from pitting people against each other," he said in an address to judiciary officials. "This united nation should not be divided, and groups should not be provoked to act against each other. There are legal ways for resolving issues."

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daragahi@latimes.com

Special correspondents in Tehran contributed to this report.