Iranian diplomats left Britain on Friday on a chartered plane after being expelled by the government for the attacks on the British Embassy in Tehran.

The British Foreign Office said all diplomatic staff had taken off from London's Heathrow airport Friday afternoon. The move comes after British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday that the diplomats had 48 hours to leave the country.

The Iranian flag was still flying outside Iran's London Embassy in a London neighborhood early Friday, as staff loaded boxes into a moving truck and ducked in and out of the building to avoid the media.

In Iran, fresh anti-Britain protests heated up after Friday prayers at Tehran University, with crowds chanting “Death to Britain.” A senior cleric rallied the protesters with a warning against other Western countries not to follow in Britain's footsteps.

Tensions between Britain and Iran worsened on Tuesday when protesters smashed windows and ransacked offices at the British Embassy in Tehran.

The British government has since expelled Iranian officials from Britain, pulled its own diplomats from Tehran and backed new sanctions against Iran.

Four other European countries, including France and Germany, have also pulled top diplomats from their Tehran embassies. The European Union has since tightened sanctions against Iran, and the United Nations Security Council has condemned the violence.

The attack came after Britain and other Western nations placed new sanctions on Tehran's central bank over its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Iran's parliament also approved a bill to reduce diplomatic and economic ties with Britain in response to the new sanctions and two days before the attacks.