PARIS, Jan 4 (AFP) - Iran warned France on Wednesday (Jan 4) of consequences after satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Tehran deemed to be insulting.

The weekly had published dozens of cartoons ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic republic as part of a competition it launched in December in support of the three-month-old protest movement.

"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," tweeted Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

"We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path," he added, without spelling out the consequences.

Later on Wednesday, Iran's foreign ministry said it had summoned French ambassador Nicolas Roche.

"France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.

"Iran is waiting for the French government's explanation and compensatory action in condemning the unacceptable behaviour of the French publication," he added.

Seen by supporters as a champion of freedom of speech and by critics as needlessly provocative, Charlie Hebdo's style is controversial even within France.

But the country was united in grief when in January 2015 it was targeted in a deadly attack by Islamist gunmen who claimed to be avenging the magazine's decision to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.