Riot police immediately arrested two demonstrators who threw the home-made petrol bombs which hit the gates and fell inside the compound but did no damage to the main building.

The protestors comprised mainly of members of Basij Islamic militia from Tehran University medical department.

The demonstrators, who were calling for the expulsion of the British ambassador, burned US and British flags and chanted "death to America, death to Britain", while throwing tomatoes and eggs at the embassy.

They also distributed the photograph of the driver who was killed as his car smashed into the wall of the embassy compound on April 1, with a note reading "martyr of a suicide operation".

The car carrying containers of petrol and diesel slammed into the walls of the embassy compound and burst into flames, killing the driver but injuring nobody inside the building.

The Iranian authorities insisted it was an "accident" but British diplomats do not reject a possibility of an attack.

The embassy has been the scene of anti-war demonstrations since US-led coalition began their assault on Iraq on March 20. Hundreds of protesters hurled stones at the embassy on March 28, breaking several windows.

"Where is the United Nations? Where are human rights?" read one placard on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day several hundred female students from Tehran schools had assembled outside the United Nations office in Tehran shouting slogans against the war and the "massacre of innocent Iraqi children".

"Bush and Blair are worse than Hitler", "Death to three evils, US, Israel and Britain" they chanted.

Similar demonstrations were also organised by seminaries in a number of cities on Monday.

Iran has adopted a policy of "active neutrality" over the conflict but Tehran has been the scene of several demonstrations, mainly outside the British embassy.

On Monday, the embassy was again the target of protests as demonstrators called for the expulsion of the British ambassador.

SPACE.WIRE