TEHERAN - IRAN said on Monday it has freed five local British embassy staff arrested on accusations of stoking post-election unrest, a move that further threatened tense ties with London and the West.

'Out of nine people arrested, five have been released,' foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said at a press conference.

Iran has repeatedly accused the West particularly Britain and the United States of 'meddling' in the violent aftermath of the election, which triggered the biggest crisis since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago.

But even as the international community voices continuing alarm over the situation in Iran, Mr Ghashghavi said Teheran had no plans to close embassies or downgrade diplomatic ties with foreign nations.

The Fars news agency, announcing the arrests on Sunday, said the embassy staff had played a 'considerable role' in the unrest that swept Iran after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie accused the embassy of sending local staff 'undercover among rioters in order to push its own agenda', the official IRNA news agency reported.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said London had protested strongly over the arrests, which he described as 'harassment and intimidation' and dismissed as baseless claims the embassy was behind the unrest.

EU nations also vowed to respond to any harassment of diplomats in Iran with a 'strong and collective response', Mr Miliband told reporters at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Corfu.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki - who has previously said Teheran was considering downgrading its ties with London after the two nations expelled diplomats - urged Britain and the EU not to take rash action over the arrests. -- AFP