The British Mission in Tehran was first established in 1821 in the Bagh-e-Elchi or the Old Bazaar.  By the 1860’s, the overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions forced the government to look for a more suitable location.  The Ferdowsi site was purchased in a spacious suburb north of the old city at a cost of 20,000 Tomans (about 8,000 Pounds).   

 

To supervise the construction of the new Legation Buildings, James Wild, the Architect, was commissioned.  He was an established architect with experience of the Middle East.  Wild’s plans included a UK-manufactured iron roof structure and covering.  Work on the site was soon underway.  He was planning to finish the building towards the end of 1871, but a series of near disasters came close.  In January 1871 a portion of the roof was lost during the sea passage (from UK to Iran) and many of

the cast iron gutters were broken.  On the 18 March two caravans of 367 camels transporting the steel roof set out from the port of Bushire, in the Persian Gulf.  The first caravan was detained for several weeks by Persian excise men in an attempt to extract money.  Shortly after their release they were attacked and robbed by bandits.  One of the escorts was shot and steel nuts for the roof covering were stolen. Some of the goods had to be carried on men’s shoulders over mountains near Shiraz.  Eventually the roof reached Tehran on 24 June. Other problems included shortage of materials and even a terrible famine, which led to another load being stranded in Baghdad without any mules.  The wrong locks were sent out and had to be returned to the UK.  Wild had designed doors and windows with large sheets of glass, which were not available in Tehran.  Finally the ship “SS Messopotania”, carrying joinery and glass for the building, caught fire at Bushire.  The building was finished in June 1876.

 

Most famous of all the historical events associated with the embassy is the great 'bast' (meaning sanctuary) of July/August 1906 when, during the constitutional struggle, some 12-16,000 Tehranis took sanctuary in the compound and by thus paralysing the life of the city, forced Muzaffar-ud-din Shah to issue his celebrated Farman of 5 August 1906 granting the people a constitution and National Assembly.

 

There were many visitors to the Residence. George N Curzon (later Lord Curxon, Viceroy of India) stayed at the legation in 1889; Gertrude Bell in 1892; and Mortimer Durand in 1895.  Among diplomats visiting the legation were Mortimer Durand, creator of the Durand frontier line between Afghanistan and British India; Charles Hardinge (later to become Viceroy of India); and Cecil Spring-Rice, Ambassador to the United States of America during World War I.

 

The leaders of the three main allied powers fighting Nazi Germany met together for the first time at the Tehran Conference in 1943.  The substantive meetings were held in the Soviet Embassy, starting on Sunday 28 November.  They were interspersed with many informal occasions when the three leaders met, talked and got to know one another.  The main issues settled were the date and scale of the Anglo-American landing in France and an associated Soviet offensive, and the resources to be devoted to the Italian, Balkan and Burmese fronts, which Churchill did not want neglected.  Stalin declared that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan once Germany was defeated.  The future shape of Germany and Eastern Europe was discussed as well as the framework for keeping the peace between the great powers after the war.

 

Following the Islamic revolution in 1979, the British Embassy was placed under the protection of Sweden.  In 1987, all staff were withdrawn from Tehran following a series of setbacks to relations.  In November 1988, UK Foreign Minister Geoffrey Howe agreed with Iranian Foreign Minister Velayati to resume diplomatic contact.  Staff returned in January of 1989.  However, on 14 February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his publishers.  European Community Foreign Ministers agreed to withdraw their heads of mission from Tehran in response.  The British Government withdrew all UK-based staff.  Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait made it desirable to re-establish relations once more, in September 1990.  Relations have continued since then, though the UK and all other EU countries withdrew their heads of mission in April 1997 when a German court issued a verdict that members of the Iranian intelligence services were responsible for the murder of four Iranian Kurds in Germany in 1992.  Heads of mission returned in November 1997 following the election of President Khatami, who showed determination to pursue the establishment of a civil society and the rule of law, and to promote wider international understanding.  Britain and Iran jointly upgraded the relationship to ambassadorial status in 1999.