TEHRAN`- A senior Iranian lawmaker on Saturday dismissed the threats posed by the EU to Iran following the arrest of a number of the local employees of the British embassy in Tehran, and stressed that if charges against the embassy staff are substantiated, they should wait for a tough punishment.

Following post-election unrests, Iran arrested nine local staff of the British embassy for their "considerable role" in the riots. Iran later released 8 of them, but the British government said seven have since been released. "Naturally, if their espionage is proved, the judiciary should sentence them to the toughest punishment possible," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Gholam Reza Karami told FNA.

Asked about the trial of the British embassy's local staff, he said, "This is a normal trend that in case citizens of any given country embark on sabotage and subversion, they will be punished irrespective of their working place." A senior Iranian cleric said Friday that some local staff of the British embassy in Iran will be put on trial for instigating post-election unrest in the country.

"In these developments (the unrest) their embassy here maintained a presence," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told worshippers during Friday Prayers in Tehran. "Individuals were arrested and inevitably they will be tried as they have made confessions." Britain said it was urgently seeking clarification from Iranian authorities over Ayatollah Jannati's remarks.

Meantime, European Union countries summoned Iranian ambassadors to voice protest against the detention of the staff.