Britain's foreign secretary says the government is "deeply concerned" at the arrest and detention of British Embassy employees in Tehran, Associated Press reported.
David Miliband, who is on the Greek island of Corfu for a foreign ministers' meeting, said Britain has protested to the Iranian authorities about the arrests, which he said occurred Saturday.
The foreign secretary described the detentions as "harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable."
Iranian media reported Sunday that authorities had detained eight local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran for an alleged role in postelection protests, signaling a hardening of Iran's stance toward the West.