BBC: The Foreign Office is in talks with the Iranian ambassador in London after his country's supreme leader called the UK government "evil".
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the comments as he appealed for an end to protests about election results.
He said Western nations were showing "their enmity against the Islamic Republic system and the most evil of them is the British government".
Ambassador Rasul Movaheddian is meeting officials at the Foreign Office now.
Officials want to register their displeasure at Ayatollah Khamenei's comments and find out why he made them.
BBC News website world affairs correspondent, Paul Reynolds, says that the summoning of the Iranian ambassador represents a shift of position by the British government which up until now had wanted to avoid getting involved in public arguments with Iran.
He added: "The line had been that it wanted to avoid giving the Iranians any reason to blame Britain for interfering. The US government has taken a similar view.
"However, Ayatollah Khamenei's description of Britain as the most 'evil' of foreign governments was a step too far."
British diplomats are thought to believe Britain is being used as "proxy" for the United States, because Iran does not want to endanger its improving relations with America.
In his first public remarks after days of demonstrations, Ayatollah Khamenei issued a stern warning that protests against the country's disputed presidential election results must end. >>> | Friday, June 19, 2009
