Iran frees eighth embassy worker

The eighth of nine British embassy employees detained by Iranian authorities has been released, the UK foreign office says.

The last remaining detainee, an Iranian, is the embassy's chief political analyst. He has been charged with acting against national security.

The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that every effort will be made to secure his release.

Iran has accused Britain of fomenting discontent to undermine its regime.

Held in prison

Mr Miliband said he had learned the "good news" of the eighth release during his daily telephone conversation with Britain's ambassador to Iran.

"[The ambassador] was told by the deputy foreign minister that the eighth person would indeed be released today, that the papers had been signed, that there would not be a court process or charges," Mr Miliband said.

"That leaves one more in custody and all of our efforts are now directed towards getting that person out."

On Saturday, the man's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said he had been unable to meet him in Evin prison in Tehran where he is being held, or see the text of the indictment.

Mr Miliband said the man was "an honourable, patriotic Iranian, who has been working in a completely open and transparent way for the UK".

"The allegations of improper conduct have absolutely no basis," he said.

"I think it is very, very important that we send a clear message that we are confident about the way he has been doing his job [and] that we are clear about our goal, which is his release, unharmed."

Nuclear question

Protests gripped Tehran and other Iranian cities after June's presidential election, amid claims the vote had been rigged in favour of the incumbent, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Tehran has repeatedly accused foreign powers, especially Britain and the US, of stoking unrest after the election - something they deny.

The embassy workers, who are all Iranian, were arrested last weekend amid accusations they had been involved in the demonstrations.

On Friday, Ahmad Jannati, leader of the Iran's supreme legislative body the Guardian Council, said: "The British Embassy had a presence and some people were arrested.

"Well, inevitably they will be put on trial. They have made confessions too."

Mr Miliband said he was angry, but would try not to inflame the already sensitive situation further.

"It is very important that my anger, my cold anger, about the way our staff have been treated... doesn't turn into a rhetorical volley at the Iranian regime, because that doesn't do anything either for our people or for reform in Iran," he said.

"What's important is that I turn my anger into determination to see that justice is done by our people."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has called the UK the "most evil" of Western governments.

Mr Miliband said it was "not difficult" to see why the UK had been singled out.

"We are there, we have a history in Iran - some of it littered with our mistakes as well as theirs - and we have a very principled and consistent position about Iran's responsibilities in the region and more widely on the nuclear question," he said.

The foreign secretary accused the Iranian regime of a "grim and gruesome" clampdown on citizens' rights following the election.