Tehran  - A senior Iranian ayatollah called Friday for a confrontation with the European Union over its support for recent political protests in Iran.

"The foreign ministry should adopt measures and confront the European states in a way that they regret their approach and apologize to the Iranian nation," said Ahmad Ahmad Khatami during the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran.

The EU has supported the popular unrest against alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election and has not acknowledged the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The ayatollah - deputy head of an influential clerical body, the Experts Assembly, and a close aide of the president - condemned a statement by Sweden, which now holds the rotating EU presidency, in support of the detained protestors as blatant interference in the internal affairs of the Iranian establishment.

The row with the EU has prompted calls in parliament to revise relations with some European states, namely Britain, France, Germany and Sweden.

The 27 EU states have also summoned the Iranian ambassadors in their countries and voiced their protests over what they call "show trials" against more than 100 detained demonstrators, local embassy employees and former reformist officials. (dpa)