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  "path": "/2026/04/28/iranian-ambassador-scolded-metro-finds-telegram-account-recruiting-martyrs-28154125/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-28T15:47:02.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Iran",
    "Iran war",
    "Foreign Office",
    "Metro revealed that Tehran’s embassy is recruiting expats",
    "Middle East",
    "social media",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
    "check our news page",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Iranian Ambassador to the UK Seyed Ali Mousavi was rebuked by the Foreign Office for the post (Picture: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)\n\nThe Iranian Ambassador to London has been summoned to the Foreign Office after Metro revealed that Tehran’s embassy is recruiting expats to’sacrifice their lives for the Homeland’.\n\nSeyed Ali Mousavi was called in by Middle East minister Hamish Falconer over the embassy’s ‘unacceptable and inflammatory’ social media comments.\n\n**Metro** reported yesterday that Iranian diplomats had called on their country’s diaspora in the UK to ‘lay down our lives’ for a new campaign to ‘defend Iranian land’.\n\nThe message, posted on their Telegram channel, directs Iranians to register their interest with the authorities and specifically references recruiting ‘children’.\n\nThe Iranian embassy posted the chilling recruitment message on Telegram (Picture: IranconsulateinUK/Telegram)\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nThe message – uncovered by **Metro** – was uploaded to the Iranian embassy’s Telegram account on April 15.\n\nIt calls for Iranians based in the UK to register for a new ‘Sacrificing Life for the Homeland Campaign’.\n\nThe post reads: ‘All brave and distinguished children of Iran are invited to participate consciously and register in this campaign, adding another golden page to the book of honours of this ancient land and demonstrating that their hearts are bound to the dignity and greatness of their homeland.’\n\nThe Telegram upload ends with a chilling poetic verse: ‘Let us all, one and all, give our lives in battle. Rather than surrender our country to the enemy.’\n\nThe lines are taken from a famous sequence of patriotic poetry in Iran called the Shahnameh, or ‘Book of Kings,’ composed by the Persian poet Ferdowsi.\n\nThe Foreign Office called the post ‘completely unacceptable’ and ordered the Embassy to ‘cease any form of communications that could be interpreted as encouraging violence in the UK or internationally.’\n\nThe Telegram post has close to 400 heart reactions’ (Picture: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)\n\nA spokesperson for the Iranian Embassy told **Metro** yesterday: ‘Iranians around the world have always cared deeply about their homeland and the protection of its territorial integrity and they always will.\n\n‘The “Jan Fada” platform is intended for all Iranians who wish to support and defend their country, and it does not promote any form of hostility. Any claims or assumptions to the contrary are simply unfounded. Such biased judgments are made hastily and without proper understanding.’\n\n**_This is a breaking news story and is being updated_**.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Iranian ambassador scolded after Metro finds Telegram account recruiting ‘martyrs’"
}