UK Embassy Staff In Iran Freed

Five out of nine detained local staff at the British embassy in Tehran have reportedly been released.

Iranian media said on Sunday that several were being held for their alleged involvement in mass street protests.

Iran was rocked by huge rallies, that led to several deaths, over a disputed presidential election on June 12.

Tehran has accused the West of stoking unrest, singling out Britain and the United States.

But state television said Iran's foreign ministry today announced five staff members had been freed.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki had spoken on Sunday evening, ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said.

"Out of nine people, five of them have been released and the rest are being interrogated," Mr Qashqavi told a news conference.

He said Mr Miliband had stressed in his conversation with Mr Mottaki that Britain's intention was not to interfere in Iran's internal affairs.

"Mottaki said that if they really prove this in practice... this can be considered as a positive step," Mr Qashqavi said.

On Sunday, Mr Miliband demanded the release of all the staff held.

He said his European Union colleagues had agreed to a "strong, collective response" to any such "harassment and intimidation" against EU missions.

But videotape evidence proved that the embassy staff "were distinctly present at the scene of clashes," a senior Iranian official said.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi said the detainees - all Iranian nationals - mingled with demonstrators to encourage unrest.

Iran's judiciary, which is tightly controlled by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will decide what happens next, he went on.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide election victory sparked the unrest after opposition parties' claims that the vote had been rigged.

A partial recount of the poll has begun, al Alam state television reported.

Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, had offered to recount a random 10% of the votes.

But defeated opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi has rejected this, saying the whole election should be annulled.