Iran calls in UK envoy over Blair

Iran's foreign ministry has summoned the British ambassador in Tehran to strongly criticise recent comments made by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Geoffrey Adams was told by a senior Iranian official that Mr Blair's claims that Iran posed a threat to the Middle East were "baseless".

The official was also quoted as saying that Mr Blair was trying "to cover up his failure" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Tony Blair has brought up baseless charges against Iran to cover up his failure in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, but to no avail," Ebrahim Rahimpour told Mr Adams, according to Iran's official Irna news agency.

Mr Rahimpour - the Iranian foreign ministry's director general for Western European affairs - also criticised London for co-sponsoring a UN Security Council resolution that on Saturday imposed sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment.

"The resolution will not have any impact on the national resolve to produce nuclear energy in line with [the] Non-Proliferation Treaty," the Iranian official said.