Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, and Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, right, in Tehran in 2008. Today Jannati announced that some detained British Embassy staffers will face trial after 'confessing' to their role in post-election unrest

Some of the British Embassy staff detained in Iran are to face trial after they 'confessed' to their alleged role in post-election unrest, a top Iranian cleric said today.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who is close to Iran's supreme leader, has made the announcement in a Friday prayer sermon. He said the detained staffers 'made confessions.'

Downing Street said it was 'concerned' at the report.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said urgent clarification was being sought from the Iranian government regarding the claims.

Top Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati made the announcement in a prayer sermon earlier today.

Eight embassy staff were arrested at the weekend amid rapidly deteriorating relations with Iran since the disputed re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Jannati did not say how many staffers will be tried or on what charges.

Earlier Iranian officials said all but one of the eight embassy personnel arrested on June 27 had been released, but European Union officials said they believed more than one was still being held.

Jannati is the head of the Guardian Council, a powerful body in Iran's clerical rule, and is close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He said today: 'In these developments their embassy here maintained a presence in which individuals were arrested and inevitably they will be tried as they have (made) confessions.'




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