I am not quite sure where all this self-hate by so-called British posters come from... perhaps they are part of that Islamic population in England that is letting itself out and will no doubt try to conquer us... MUSLIMS MUST GO back to where they came from if they don't want to learn to live in peace here.

RBT, Liverpool, England

Nice one Gavin, but you'll probably get lots of anti-Gavin posts from cavemen in the US, sadly, for being reasonable and accurate, and right.

kev Lax, Shanghai, China

Britian wants to divert the attention of the people from Iraq and afganistan. and they also want an excuse to attack on iran. Its not simple to understand but there are concpiracies.

zulfqar , london, uk

We British have a proverb, if Iran trips over a foreign policy pebble, they should have remembered they put it there in the first place.

E. Davey, London, UK

I don't believe a word of these conspiracy theories. We're British and we can do what we like, always have and always will - nothing conspiratorial in that!

Robbie Rohan, Great Chart, Kent, Great Britain

The Iranians do indeed have reasons to view the British with distrust, and not just the disgraceful coup against the elected Mossadeq. We have interfered and intervened in the country on many occasions, right back to the Great Game with Russia, through the scramble for oil, our occupation of parts of the country, our support for the Shah and his SAVAK torturers, and our support for Saddam's agression against Iran in the 1980s. This is not to excuse the detention of the Marines, of course, but we are again on their borders. Their people are being held by the Americans (against the wishes of the Iraqi govt and Kurdish authorities) They have every reason to distrust us, even if it is taken to extremes at times.

Gavin, Sussex, UK

"...that kind of crap..."

Congratulations. At long last a public official who describes these conspiracy theories (usually found on blog run by another 'British' media organisation) for what they are.

Hugh, London,

Ajer - It's an American expression, very far removed from Al Quada.

Paul, Rochester, UK

Sir Richard Dalton, Britain’s former Ambassador to Iran “My advice to the Iranians who used to give me that kind of c*** is that they’ve got to wake up and smell the coffee,” What a weird turn of phrase, the last time I heard that it was from a Muslim fanatic, is the foreign office now getting English lessons from al quada? I'd like to know as I don't have a clue what they are talking about.

Ajer, Basingstoke, UK