The government in Iran has summoned the British ambassador in Tehran to tell him the UK should stop interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

The move follows British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's criticism on Monday of Iran's crushing of opposition protests. Mr Miliband praised the courage of the opposition demonstrators, a number of whom are reported to have been killed by police.

Iranian state media say tens of thousands of pro-government supporters took to the streets on Tuesday, calling for leaders of the opposition to be punished. They hold the opposition responsible for the unrest which followed June's contested election, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected.

In the weeks following the poll, hundreds of thousands of people protested against the result. There have been more such demonstrations over the last few days. These were crushed by the Iranian authorities.

photo: Tehran protest earlier in 2009 (Flickr / Hamed Saber)