TEHRAN — If one thing stood out at the reopening of the British Embassy in Tehran on Aug. 23, it was the immense number of police cars and special guards stationed along Ferdowsi Street. The last time there was this kind of security presence, all the way from Ferdowsi Square a few hundred meters to the north, it was in the turbulent aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential elections.
The muscle flexing appears to have been in response to calls for a protest in front of the diplomatic compound made by members of the paramilitary Basij. This happened after news of the reopening of the embassy first began to spread through social media. Notably, Britain decided to cut its diplomatic presence in Iran in November 2011, after its embassy was stormed by hard-liners.