A decision by the Iranian authorities to put a British Embassy worker on trial in Tehran has been condemned as an “outrage” by the Foreign Office.  It confirmed Iranian Hossein Rassam – the embassy’s chief political analyst – was among the accused at a mass trial which began on Saturday morning.

Nine embassy employees were arrested but he is the only one to be charged.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British ambassador in Tehran was seeking clarification on “this latest outrage”.

“This is completely unacceptable and directly contradicts assurances we had been given repeatedly by senior Iranian officials,” she said.

The BBC’s John Leyne says Mr Rassam is among those accused of provoking the demonstrations which broke out after Iran’s disputed presidential elections two months ago.

He added Mr Rassam, the most senior Iranian employee at the British Embassy, had also been charged with spying.

He appeared in court along with French teacher Clotilde Reiss and a female Iranian employee of the French embassy, named as Ashfar.