The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has said he will be arguing for an intensification of economic sanctions against Iran at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels today.

Yesterday Britain announced the closure of its embassy in Iran and closed the Iranian embassy in London with immediate effect -- following attacks on two British compounds in the Iranian capital, Tehran, two days ago.

Mr Hague told Today presenter James Naughtie that he hoped that the measures agreed today would be related to Iran's nuclear programme. "These are not measures in reaction to what has happened to our embassy."

And he added: "There's been a range of other reactions to that. But our bigger, long term concern is of course the Iranian nuclear programme, the danger that poses to the peace of the middle east and the wider world, the threat of nuclear proliferation spreading to other countries in the region, and it's for that reason that we will agree, I hope, today to intensify European Union sanctions on Iran."

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