The Foreign Ministry in Tehran described the publication as “insulting and inappropriate” on Wednesday and said Charlie Hebdo repeatedly mocks Iranian politicians.

The magazine has already been put on a sanctions list by the Islamic Republic.

“We will not allow the French government to overstep the mark,” the ministry statement said, with the Tasmin news agency reporting that the French ambassador had been summoned.

Charlie Hebdo published several entries to its #MullahsGetOut cartoon competition on Wednesday. Iran has been rocked by anti-government protests for months.

“We wanted to support Iranians’ struggle for their freedom by ridiculing their antiquated religious leader and throwing him in the dustbin of history,” it wrote.

One of the drawings shows Khamenei trying to save himself from drowning in a lake of blood.

The new issue of Charlie Hebdo also has a cartoon on Iran on its cover, which can be seen on the magazine’s website.

A naked woman is pictured lying on her back. Men with long robes, beards and turbans run into her vagina one after the other. The slogan says: “Mullahs go back where you came from!”

Relations between Tehran and European governments have soured in recent times because of criticism of the Iranian regime’s crackdown on demonstrators.

Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris were attacked by Islamist gunmen in 2015 and 12 people were murdered.