At least 15 people are reported to have been killed in two explosions which hit the Iranian embassy in the Lebanese capital Beirut in quick succession.
The Iranian cultural attache was among the dead, Iran's Arabic-language al-Alam TV channel reported.
TV images showed burning cars, bodies on the street and damaged buildings.
Iran is a major backer of the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, which has sent fighters to Syria to back the government of Bashar al-Assad.
- May 2012: Fighting between pro- and anti-Assad groups in Lebanese Tripoli and Beirut leave many dead
- August 2012: Deadly sectarian clashes break out in Tripoli
- October 2012: Several people killed in gunfights after the assassination of top security official General Wissam al-Hassan, a Sunni opponent of Damascus
- May 2013: At least 15 people die in another round of sectarian violence in Tripoli
- June 2013: At least 17 soldiers killed in clashes with supporters of radical Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in the southern city of Sidon
- 9 July 2013: A car bomb wounds dozens in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut
- 15 August 2013: A car bomb kills 27 people and injures hundreds more in a Shia area of south Beirut
- 23 August 2013: More than 40 people killed and 400 injured in two blasts outside mosques in Tripoli
The Syrian conflict has increased sectarian tensions in Lebanon.
South Beirut, including the area around the Iranian embassy, is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. It has been hit by several attacks in recent months.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the attack "a cowardly terrorist act", Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
"The aim of the blast is to stir up the situation in Lebanon and use the Lebanese arena to convey messages," he said.
The main gate to the embassy was blown out and there was damage to the three-storey building, the Associated Press reported.
AP and the Hezbollah TV channel al-Manar quoted sources saying that the first blast was caused by a suicide bomber, while the second was a car bomb, which did much more damage.
However, this has not been officially confirmed.
On 15 August, 27 people were killed in a car bomb in south Beirut believed to have been targeting a Sunni Muslim cleric opposed to Hezbollah. The cleric was unhurt.
Hezbollah fighters were instrumental in a strategic victory by Syrian government forces in Qusair, close to the border with Lebanon, in early June.
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