Iran and Britain's troubled relations hit new low with embassy staff arrests: Via guardian.co.uk .

The arrest of British embassy staff is the latest flare-up between two countries that have a long history of mistrust

Troubled relations between the UK and Iran have hit a new low with the arrest of several local staff at the British embassy in Iran and last week's tit-for-tat expulsion of each other's diplomats. But even before Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, singled out the UK as the "most evil" country in a recent speech, indeed since before the 1979 Islamic revolution, rows and ructions have been the norm between the two countries.

Often dubbed the "Little Satan," to the "Great Satan" of the US, Britain occupies a special place in Iranian official demonology. Many Iranians are still convinced the BBC helped topple the Peacock throne and bring Ayatollah Khomeini to power, ironic in the light of the role being played by the BBC's new Persian TV channel, a huge irritant to the authorities in Tehran.

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Britain, like the US, was accused of backing Saddam Hussein and secretly arming him with the chemical weapons used against the Islamic republic. Postwar relations were dominated by the fatwa issued by Khomeini ordering the killing of Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses was deemed blasphemous. Iran was also accused of backing the IRA and a bugging device was found in Iran's recently refurbished London embassy. Attacks on Iranian dissidents abroad were another problem, as was backing for Shia hostage-taking.

The atmosphere improved under the reformist president Mohammed Khatami, enabling Robin Cook, then foreign secretary, to resolve the Rushdie affair. Soon there was cooperation over drug trafficking from Afghanistan. After the 9/11 attacks, Iran pledged support for fighting terrorism and the new UK foreign secretary, Jack Straw, visited the country.

But in 2003 the US-led invasion of Iraq led to new tensions, as did the fear Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. In 2007 there was a tense standoff when Iran seized 15 British sailors, accusing them of trespassing in Iranian waters.

Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust and Israel, as well as Iranian support for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, have kept the regime at odds with Britain and other western countries. January's launch of BBC Persian TV infuriated the Iranians, whose harassment then forced the closure of the British Council offices in Tehran.

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