stated, "As far as we're concerned, there is no question about their ownership." In July 2009, amid increased tensions between Iran and Britain following the disputed 2009 Iranian presidential elections, Iranian Brigadier General Mir-Faisal Baqerzade suggested that plans were underway to seize Gholhak Garden. Baqerzade previously declared, "If the British Government wants to keep Gholhak, then they should exchange it for Hyde Park." In October 2011, Tehran's mayor Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf seized on the issue, instructing municipal lawyers to begin legal action to force Britain to forfeit its legal title to Gholhak. Observers suspected that the mayor may have been using the Gholhak dispute to boost his conservative credentials and profile prior to the 2013 Iranian presidential elections. Protests Gholhak Garden and the British embassy in central Tehran have been subject to periodic anti-Western demonstrations orchestrated by the Iranian government since the defunct American embassy has no longer been the central target after being taken over in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis. On December 29, 2008, Iranian students stormed Gholhak Garden in protest of Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip in the Gaza War. Some 300 students managed to occupy the compound for a short time and replaced the British flag with a Palestinian one. On November 29, 2011, Iranian protesters stormed the British embassy in downtown Tehran and Gholhak Garden. The incident came amid rising tensions over Iran's nuclear program. Earlier in the month, Britain enacted new sanctions against Iran while the Iranian government retaliated by passing legislation to expel the British ambassador. The protesters broke into Gholhak and briefly seized six British embassy staff before being released by the Iranian police. Britain expressed outrage at the riots and warned of "serious consequences." Environmental In late October 2011, Iranian authorities accused the British of "environmental vandalism" for cutting down and burning over 300 trees in the Gholhak complex. Britain responded that it had only removed a "small number" of trees that died of "natural causes and become dangerously unstable", as the extension of the nearby Tehran Metro had disrupted the water supply. In November 2011, the Tehran municipality announced that it had fined the British embassy US$1.23 million for the offence. See also Embassy of the United Kingdom, Tehran Tehran War Cemetery References Iran–United Kingdom relations Buildings and structures in Tehran