London missed signs of Iran's revolution

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A diplomatic report released by the British government suggests London missed developments that led to the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, an official said.

The British government Wednesday released a 1979 report commissioned by Foreign Secretary David Owen. London said the purpose of the 1979 report was to identify lessons that could be learned from the British reaction to the revolution.

Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in Paris in 1979 to usher in the Islamic Revolution that gave rise to the current clerical leadership in Iran.

The report notes that Iran from 1974 was "a country of major importance" to London. The report notes, however, that the British embassy was invested more in economic reporting in Iran, leaving political assessments to fall by the wayside.

Only one person in the British Foreign Commonwealth Office at the time was responsible for political reporting on Iran, the 1979 report said.

"If political reporting had been given a higher priority at the same time as the resources of the commercial department were increased, it would have been possible for the Chancery to acquire a more detailed and profound knowledge of the country," the report said in its conclusion.

Geoffrey Adams, a political director at the British FCO, said the release of the report wasn't meant to point fingers, but provide a valuable assessment of challenging political trends.

The British government, he concluded, "had not correctly forecast the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran."