Associated Press journalists saw the hard-liners protesting today over Ashton speaking with a female activist and the mother of a blogger who died while in police custody. The agency says demonstrators chanted: "Oh undeserving Ashton, shame on you, shame on you!"
On Monday, a senior military official strongly criticised Ashton for meeting the activists during her visit to Iran.
Yesterday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham also said a protest note had been forwarded to the Austrian Embassy for arranging the meeting.