A family travelling across Europe in a camper van emblazoned with the slogan 'Iran is Great' to promote the country sparked a terror alert after pulling up outside the Science Museum in London.

Police mistook the message of peace for a bomb scare and evacuated the area before smashing the van's windows to search for explosives with the help of sniffer dogs at midday on Monday.

Driver Cristian Ivan, 41, who has crossed three continents with his wife, Audrey, 33, and their two young children to help foster relations with the Middle East, said the alert was 'ironic'.

The couple had parked for two hours while they took their five-year-old Emilia and eight-year-old Lucas to the Natural History Museum - but returned to find 30 officers had stormed the area.

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A family travelling across Europe in a camper van emblazoned with the slogan 'Iran is Great' to promote the country sparked a terror alert after pulling up outside the Science Museum in London

Driver Cristian Ivan (pictured with his daughter Emilia) appealed for help after the van's window was smashed by police

Mr Ivan, who is from Romania and grew up in Germany, said: 'It's our first time in the UK we went to a festival about education in Wales.

'We are now on our way back to Europe and we stopped in London because we wanted to visit some museums.

'We parked in front of the Science museum and we thought everything was fine. We went to the Natural History museum and stayed there for two hours.

'When we came back we saw the side window was smashed we first thought there were burglars.

Mr Ivan and his wife Audrey, 33, have been trying to 'change world opinion' about the country for the past two years, pictured with their children Emilia and Lucas in Dubai

Police mistook the message of peace for a bomb scare and evacuated the area before smashing the van's windows to search for explosives with sniffer dogs at around midday on Monday

The couple had parked for two hours while they took their five-year-old Emilia and eight-year-old Lucas to the Natural History Museum

'We then went to security staff outside the museum who were standing 20 metres away from car. They said there were no burglars and said it was police.

'They considered our van was a threat. Of course it was because of the sign on our van, the security officers said it was.

'It's ironic. I was promoting a message of peace. Iran's a safe and great country for visitors.'

Police said they were called to reports of a 'suspicious vehicle' but the 'security alert' was later stood down.

The family have been trying to 'change world opinion' about the country for the past two years after taking a detour into Iran on their way to India in 2013.

They were captivated by the culture and were taken aback by the level of compassion and help they were offered by the local people after their papers were stolen in the city of Karaj.

So the family rented out their home in Germany, kitted out a camper van with bunkbeds and wardrobes from their house, and hit the road along with their children as well as two small rabbits.

Speaking in an interview on Iranian television, Mr Ivan said: 'Wow.' Iran is greater than we thought.

'So we thought we could change world opinion using these beautiful pictures on the car, [with brochures and films], and also the website we designed.

'This van is our house and like a snail, we carry our house wherever we go.'

The family rented out their home in Germany and kitted out a camper van with bunkbeds and wardrobes

The couple made the decision to home-school their children on the road, pictured with some cyclists

The couple made the decision to home-school their children on the road in between rallies and talks.

Mrs Ivan, who is originally from France, said that initially they found living in such a confined space 'difficult', but they have learnt to adapt.

She said: 'Emilia couldn’t walk when we first left. So she was practically crawling on the floor the whole time.

'We had no washing machine. That was a bit difficult, we had to adapt ourselves. Emilia made her first steps in Turkey, in Istanbul.

'We celebrated Lucas’ fifth birthday in Iran with a local family we met. We bought him a Bambi shaped-cake.'

The Ivan family wrote a message on their campaign website after the incident, saying: 'Help! Help! On August 3 our van's window was smashed in London in front of the Science Museum.'

Brendan Cormier ‏posted an image from the scene and said: 'A lorry with the words Iran Is Great parks on Exhibition Road. Police react by blocking off the street.'

Fiyaz Mughal, director of the anti-Muslim hate crime reporting service Tell MAMA, called the police response 'over the top'.

He told The Times: 'Someone has obviously thought that Iran equates to terrorism and this in itself is telling, when all the van did was to park off Exhibition Road.

'You would assume that if it was a threat, European states would have taken action before.'