Top Secret British war plans (from 1943) taken from Tehran embassy

Word came out yesterday that confidential war plans were stolen from the British embassy in Tehran. Fortunately for London, the plans were 70 years old, and were designed to invade Northern France in 1945, instead of Tehran in 2011. The Guardian reported that a copy of Operation Overlord, a plan to send over a hundred ...

ABOLFAZL NESAEI/AFP/Getty Images
ABOLFAZL NESAEI/AFP/Getty Images
ABOLFAZL NESAEI/AFP/Getty Images

Word came out yesterday that confidential war plans were stolen from the British embassy in Tehran. Fortunately for London, the plans were 70 years old, and were designed to invade Northern France in 1945, instead of Tehran in 2011.

The Guardian reported that a copy of Operation Overlord, a plan to send over a hundred thousand troops into France during World War II, was stolen from the British embassy in Tehran after the embassy attacks last week. The embassy attack on November 29th was  perpetrated by Iran’s volunteer Basij militia, who raided the British embassy,vandalized its interior, and severely escalated tensions between Iran and the West. Soon after, the U.K began cutting its diplomatic ties by recalling its mission in Tehran, and expelling Iranian officials from London. 

The premises for Operation Overlord were agreed upon at the 1943 Tehran conference by the leaders of World War 2’s Allied powers. A copy of the plan was located in a safe in the British ambassador’s office, but was taken out the night prior to the embassy attack for a dinner commemorating the 68th anniversary of the Tehran conference.

Unfortunately for the thieves, the plans will probably yield a little less than they could find watching the History Channel, or playing Medal of Honor for a couple hours. That’s probably why they took a Pulp Fiction movie poster as an insurance policy.

Kedar Pavgi is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.

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