Iran protests Charlie Hebdo's Khamenei cartoons

Iran warned France on Wednesday that it would respond after "insulting" cartoons depicting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Following the publication of cartoons depicting Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted:

"The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response. We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path."

The weekly published dozens of cartoons Wednesday ridiculing the top religious and political figure in Iran.

In December, the magazine launched a caricature competition, following months of protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women.

'Support the struggle'

According to the magazine, the contest would "support the struggle of Iranians who are fighting for their freedom." On the cover is the text "mullahs, go back where you came from" with a drawing of small men marching into the vulva of a naked woman.

Iranian authorities have described the protests as "riots" and say hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed and thousands of civilians have been arrested. The government has alleged that hostile foreign powers and opposition groups are stoking the unrest.

Charlie Hebdo published the caricatures in a special edition to mark the anniversary of a deadly attack on its Paris office on January 7, 2015, by assailants who said they were acting on behalf of al-Qaida to avenge the magazine's decision to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.