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It is a little-known slice of history that in the countdown to the Anglo-American coup in Tehran against Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953, the US Central Intelligence Agency lost nerve just as the Tehran street protests - eerily similar to the recent unrest - were about to be staged, but the British intelligence outpost in Cyprus which coordinated the entire operation held firm, forced the pace and ultimately created a fait accompli for Washington.

At any rate, Tehran is going after Britain - "the most treacherous of foreign powers", to use Khamenei's words. Marching orders have been given to two British diplomats posted in Tehran, and four local employees working in the British Embassy remain under detention for questioning. This is despite robust gesticulations by London that it is not stepping anything up on Tehran's streets. A Foreign Office statement in London pleaded that it is Iran's nuclear program that is driving Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and not outrage over civil rights or the death of innocents.