followed from the 2011 joint American-British-Canadian sanctions and the Iranian government's Guardian Council approving a parliamentary bill expelling the British ambassador as a result of those sanctions. A British flag was taken down and replaced by the Iranian flag by the protesters. The British Foreign Office responded by saying "We are outraged by this. It is utterly unacceptable and we condemn it." According to Iranian state news agencies, the protesters were largely composed of young adults. On 30 November William Hague announced that all Iranian diplomats had been expelled and given 48 hours to leave the United Kingdom. Since 2011 The UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond warned that Britain might take military action against Iran if it carries out its threat to block the Strait of Hormuz. He said any attempt by Iran to block the strategically important waterway in retaliation for sanctions against its oil exports would be “illegal and unsuccessful” and the Royal Navy would join any action to keep it open. British defence officials met US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on 6 January to criticize other members of the NATO for not being willing to commit resources to joint operations, including in Libya and Afghanistan. The following day, UK officials reported its intention to send its most powerful naval forces to the Persian Gulf to counter any Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz. The Type 45 destroyer would arrive in the Gulf by the end of January. According to officials, the ship is capable of shooting down "any missile in Iran's armoury." In July 2013, the UK considered opening better relations with Iran "step-by-step" following the election of President Hassan Rouhani, and in October of the same year, both countries announced that they would each appoint a chargé d'affaires to work toward resuming full diplomatic relations. This was done on 20 February 2014, and the British government announced in June 2014 that it would soon re-open its Tehran embassy. Embassies in each other's countries were simultaneously reopened in 2015. The ceremony in Tehran was attended by UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, the first British Foreign Secretary to visit Iran since Jack Straw in 2003, who attended the reopening of the Iranian embassy in London, along with Iran's deputy foreign minister Mehdi Danesh Yazdi. Diplomat Ajay Sharma was named as the UK's charge d'affaires but a full ambassador was expected to be appointed in the