The BBC's veteran foreign correspondent John Leyne has also been "asked to leave". John isn't one to get himself theatrically arrested (unlike some foreign reporters), he and his managers probably concluded it would be in his listeners' and viewers' interests for him to try to "play the game" and report what he could report from his Tehran base given the circumstances. Or maybe he dared to venture out? Indeed the BBC have said they'll keep their Tehran office open.
But apparently the UK Government has annoyed the Iranians to such an extent that he had to go.
Two interesting things here.
Firstly, it shows the extent to which the regime is monitoring respected foreign reporting which is listened-to and watched extensively within Iran itself. It will be significant to see what this does to the thousands of Iranians who listen to the BBC World Service radio and its much interfered-with Persian TV service.
Second, it demonstrates the level of paranoia the regime has about the conclusions westerners are reaching about events on the Iranian streets. I can't imagine it will endear the regime to the millions of Iranians who cherish free speech and consume the BBC, Voice of America, and the myriad social media available to them.
