Iran MPs vote to expel British ambassador.

Iranian MPs were incandescent in their fury towards Britain, known by many in Iran as "the Old Fox". After announcing that the motion had been carried by 171 votes to three, Ali Larijani, the hawkish speaker, warned that even tougher penalties would be imposed on Britain, saying: "this is just the beginning of the road."

The resolution, which declared the British government to be "worse than the devil", must now be approved by Iran's Guardian Council. It is unlikely that the body's spiritual elders, whose main role is to ensure that legislation cannot be deemed un-Islamic, would block the move.

Once the council has bestowed its blessing, Mr Chilcott would be ejected from the country and Iran's ambassador to London recalled. The respective missions would be run at charge d'affaires level, as they were just a few months ago.

For many MPs, the censure was not strong enough.

"This plan should be firmer and stronger against Britain," Mahmoud Bighash, one legislator, told the house. "Having relations with Britain, even with one representative, is a total betrayal and we should padlock the British embassy."

Another of his colleagues went even further, invoking the hostage crisis of 1979 when, at the height of Iran's Islamist revolution, student gunmen raided the US embassy in Tehran and took its diplomatic staff hostage for 444 days.

"The British government should know that if they insist on their evil stances, the Iranian people will punch them in the month, exactly as happened against America's den of spies," said Mehdi Kuchakzadeh.

The Foreign Office said it was dismayed by the development.

"The Iranian parliament's vote to expel our ambassador is regrettable," a spokesman said. "If the Iranian government acts in this, we will respond robustly in consultation with our international partners."

The latest spat caps two years of worsening relations between Iran and Britain, which has been described by the Islamist state's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the "most treacherous" of Iran's enemies.

Much of the anger has been directed at Britain for its criticism of Iran's democratic record, especially in the aftermath of its controversial elections in 2009.

Of itself, Britain's decision to sanction Iran's central bank will not be seen as of great consequence, but there is fear that other states both within and outside the EU could follow suit, a development that would prompt profound disquiet within the corridors of the regime.