LONDON: London police on Monday arrested Britain´s former ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, amid allegations over his ties to disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Images on UK television appeared to show Mandelson being driven away from his north London home accompanied by a man and a woman, after police raided his properties earlier this month.

“He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and has been taken to a London police station for interview,” the Met added.

The arrest comes days after ex-prince Andrew, King Charles III’s younger brother, was arrested in a misconduct in public office probe also related to the latest release of documents related to Epstein.

Mandelson, a pivotal figure in British politics, is being probed over allegations that he sent sensitive documents to the late US sex offender Epstein when he was a government minister, including during the 2008 financial crash.

The ex-politician was sacked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as envoy to Washington last year when an earlier release of documents linked to Epstein showed the extent of their friendship.

The latest Epstein files released by the United States on January 30 have resulted in high-profile UK investigations.

Starmer has apologised to Epstein´s victims and accused Mandelson of lying about the extent of his ties to the financier during the vetting process for his appointment to Washington.

But Mandelson’s appointment has unleashed a political storm with two of Starmer´s top aides resigning over the row.

The government is to release tens of thousands of emails, messages and documents on Mandelson´s vetting procedure, which could ramp up the pressure on the prime minister and other senior ministers.

Mandelson, also a former European Union trade commissioner, stood down from parliament´s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, earlier this month.

Officers from the Met’s specialist crime team were also deployed earlier this month to search two of his addresses, one in the western English county of Wiltshire and the other in London, according to the police.

A top Iranian diplomat says the time is ripe for the United States to abandon its “fruitless” sanctions and failed policy of war against Iran, urging genuine respect for diplomacy as the only viable path forward.

“Iran’s enemies may start a war, but they will not be able to determine the end,” Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said in an address to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.

“You have tried sanctions and war in relation to Iran and got nowhere. Now it is time to experience diplomacy and respect,” he said.

He said Iranians do not seek aggression against other countries but will firmly stand against any military or political conspiracy against the Islamic Republic and will defend their homeland.

Gharibabadi said the consequences of war will not be limited only to the parties to the conflict, “but will engulf the region.”

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against Iran since early January, following his public support for foreign-linked riots.

Trump has since ordered a significant military buildup in regional waters near Iran and warned of strikes if Tehran does not accept a deal on US terms.

Iranian officials have reiterated their readiness for a fair agreement on the country’s nuclear program but warned that even a limited attack would trigger a decisive response.

Elsewhere in his address, Gharibabadi said the so-called advocates of human rights supported the United States and the Israeli regime during the 12-day war against Iran in June 2025, which killed more than 1,060 Iranians and injured some 6,000 others.

“They did not even allow the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council to condemn the aggression.”

Gharibabadi said Iran’s enemies, who suffered a severe defeat in the June war, attempted to set the stage for another military offensive by inciting unrest in the country and turning peaceful economic protests into deadly riots.

The Iranian official condemned the terrorists for committing Daesh-style crimes that resulted in the martyrdom of 2,427 civilians.

Gharibabadi said those who place the least value on human dignity are exploiting human rights as a tool to serve their own interests.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister said the main instigators of the January unrest, notably the United States and Israel, must be held accountable for crimes against humanity.

• US military builds up in Middle East amid tensions with Iran.
• Iran, United States remain divided over nuclear talks.
• Iran denies atomic weapon ambitions, seeks diplomatic solution.

The State Department is pulling out non-essential government personnel and their eligible family members from the US embassy in Beirut, a senior State Department official said on Monday, amid growing concerns about the risk of a military conflict with Iran.

“We continuously assess the security environment, and based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint to essential personnel,” said a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“The Embassy remains operational with core staff in place. This is a temporary measure intended to ensure the safety of our personnel while maintaining our ability to operate and assist US citizens,” the official said.

A source at the US embassy said 50 people had been evacuated, while an official at Beirut airport said 32 embassy staff, along with family members, had flown out of Beirut airport on Monday.

The US has built up one of its biggest military deployments in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump warning on Thursday that “really bad things will happen” if no deal is reached to solve a longstanding dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked.

“Should employees occupying emergency positions wish to depart post, please review alternative arrangements to fill the emergency position and consult with your regional bureau Executive Office as necessary,” an internal State Department cable on the pullout seen by Reuters said.

US interests were repeatedly targeted in Lebanon in the 1980s during the 1975-90 civil war, during which the US held the Iran-backed Hezbollah responsible for attacks including the 1983 suicide bombing against the US Marines headquarters in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen and a 1983 suicide attack on the US embassy in Beirut that killed 49 embassy staff.

Talks on thursday, divisions remain

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is scheduled to travel to Israel on Saturday and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was still planning to do that but “the schedule remains subject to change,” the US official said.

The US wants Iran to give up its nuclear program, but Iran has adamantly refused and denied it is trying to develop an atomic weapon. Washington views enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons.

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that he expects to meet with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Geneva on Thursday, adding that there was still “a good chance” of a diplomatic solution.

Both sides remain sharply divided — even over the scope and sequencing of relief from crippling US sanctions — following two rounds of talks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

Citing officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe, Reuters reported on Friday that Tehran and Washington are sliding rapidly toward military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic settlement.

On Sunday, Witkoff said the president was curious as to why Iran has not yet “capitulated” and agreed to curb its nuclear programme.

It would be the second time the US and Israel have attacked Iran in less than a year, following US and Israeli airstrikes against military and nuclear facilities last June.