Iran summoned Denmark's ambassador to Tehran, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, to voice protest against the 27-nation bloc's oil embargo imposed on Tehran.

Fars News Agency reports that during the meeting on Tuesday, Jan 24, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Asqar Khaji voiced Tehran's protest against the decision and said, "There are forces in the EU that seek to cause tension in the relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran by following the U.S. policies and adopting a hostile approach."

The sanctions were formally adopted at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Iran had "failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program", British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.

Iran slammed the embargo as "unfair" and "doomed to fail".