Desk Report:  The UN Security Council strongly condemned the storming of Britain’s embassy in Tehran and warned Iran that it must protect diplomatic personnel.

“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attacks” against the British embassy in Tehran, said a statement agreed by the 15-nation body.

Highlighting the Vienna conventions which protect diplomats, the council “called on the Iranian authorities to protect diplomatic and consular property and personnel, and to respect fully their international obligations in this regard.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday demanded that Iran protect foreign diplomats as she strongly condemned the storming of the British embassy in Tehran.

In Washington, President Barack Obama also urged Iran to “hold those who are responsible to task.”

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement of her “extreme concern” over the incident and called on Tehran “immediately to fulfill its international obligations… to protect diplomats and embassies.”

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe saw as another example of Iran’s attitude toward international law.In Berlin, Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador.

Close Iran ally Russia also slammed the attacks as “unacceptable and deserving condemnation,” according to a foreign ministry statement.

Meanwhile:Britain is withdrawing its diplomats from Iran following the attack on its embassy in the capital, Tehran, Tuesday, diplomatic sources say. A first group of embassy staff are reported to be flying out to Dubai.

Another report adds: Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood Wednesday claimed the lead in the first stage of the country’s first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak’s fall.

The movement’s Freedom and Justice Party said initial results showed its coalition ahead, followed by parties belonging to the hardline Islamist Salafi movements, then a coalition of secular movements in third.

Sanctions on Syria

Turkey has announced a raft of economic sanctions on Syria over its violent crackdown on protesters.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country would suspend financial dealings with Damascus and freeze any Syrian government assets.

Lebanon will enforce Arab League sanctions imposed on neighbouring Syria even though it did not back the punitive measures, Economy Minister Nicola Nahhas told AFP on Wednesday.