(3 Dec 2011) SHOTLIST
++AP Television is adhering to Iranian law that stipulates all media are banned from providing BBC Persian or VOA Persian any coverage from Iran, and under this law if any media violate this ban the Iranian authorities can immediately shut down that organisation in Tehran.++
1. Wide of plane at Mehrabad airport, hard-line Iranian students in foreground gathered to welcome back expelled diplomats
2. Close-up of student chanting (Farsi) "Death to England, students who are vigilant, dislike England"
3. Various of student demonstrators chanting (Farsi) "We will demolish the den of the fox (UK)"
4. Close-up of protest poster reading (Farsi) "Welcome to Iran oh you ambassadors of the martyrs"
5. Wide of demonstrators chanting (Farsi) "The British embassy must be closed"
6. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) No name given, student demonstrator:
"We have come here to welcome the ambassador of Iran from the UK. We are very happy that they have returned. We don't need an Iranian embassy there."
7. Close-up of female demonstrator holding poster reading (English) "Spy embassy closed forever!"
8. Mid of female protesters carrying pictures of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
9. Wide of Iranian foreign ministry vehicles and media at airport
10. Close-up of screen displaying arrival of plane carrying diplomats reading (Farsi) "IR 728 on time at 02:40 from London"
STORYLINE:
Iranian diplomats expelled from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran arrived home on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reported, sealing Iran's most serious diplomatic rift with the West in decades.
About 150 hard-liners waiting with flower necklaces had gathered at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to give the roughly two dozen diplomats and their families a hero's welcome.
They shouted slogans against Britain and the United States.
But the Iranian government, apparently opposed to any high-profile display that could worsen the fallout, took the diplomats off unseen from a backdoor, reflecting Iran's own internal political rifts.
Tuesday's storming of the British Embassy and residential complex - which the British government alleges was sanctioned by Tehran's ruling elite - deepened Iran's isolation, which has grown over the decade-long standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.
Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors, and Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.
It amounted to the most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy after the Islamic Revolution, and some Iranian political figures have voiced doubts over whether anything can be gained from escalating the diplomatic battle.
The obstruction of Saturday's welcome ceremony reflected the disagreements between hard-liners and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
which opposed downgrading relations with Britain and condemned the attack on Britain's embassy.
Iran's relations with Britain have become increasingly strained in recent months, largely due to tensions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a key component of its nuclear programme.
The process is of deep concern internationally because it can be used to produce material for nuclear warheads in addition to reactor fuel.
Iran insists its program is entirely peaceful.
Along with the United States and other nations in Europe, Britain has backed sanctions that have so far failed to push Iran to halt its enrichment programme.
to damage and weaken the Islamic Republic.
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