Bahrain summoned Iran's charge d'affaires on Monday in protest at "interference" by Tehran in the internal affairs of the Gulf kingdom, the foreign ministry said.

Tehran's envoy Mahdi Islami was summoned "to address his country's interference in the kingdom's internal affairs through deliberately attributing false information to Bahraini officials," the ministry said.

Israel's parliament voted Tuesday to dissolve itself and hold early elections on January 22, a move championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whose coalition is leading in the opinion polls.

The dissolution of the Knesset was approved by 100 votes to none in a third reading after a lengthy session in the 120-seat chamber.

The United States on Monday accused Iran of extreme economic mismanagement as biting sanctions wreak havoc on the Iranian economy, and the European Union agreed a new slew of moves against the regime.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington had seen reports that on "everything from shoes and clothing to foreign-imported wallpaper, the Iranian regime is now trying to restrict in terms of the way their citizens use their foreign exchange."

A new cyberespionage tool linked to the Flame virus has been infecting computers in Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere, security researchers said Monday.

Kaspersky Lab, which was credited with revealing the Flame virus earlier this year, dubbed the new malware "miniFlame," and said it was "a small and highly flexible malicious program designed to steal data and control infected systems during targeted cyber espionage operations."

A senior official on Monday said Iran proposed to peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi a "transitional period" for Syria ahead of elections to be held under President Bashar Assad's supervision.

"We proposed a halt to the violence and a truce, stopping supplying weapons and backing for armed terrorist groups and a national dialogue between the opposition and government," Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdolahian told Arabic-language al-Alam television.

Europe's foreign ministers will sharply ramp up the pressure on Iran and Syria at talks Monday, while taking a "big step" in Africa by agreeing to assist Mali reconquer its north from rebels and Islamist extremists.

Meeting days before a European Union summit, the bloc's 27 foreign ministers are tipped to agree what a diplomatic source dubbed "one of the toughest packages of sanctions" yet against Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

The March 14 alliance called on Prime Minister Najib Miqati to immediately resign over Hizbullah's drone that penetrated Israeli airspace over the weekend, considering it a “defiance of the Lebanese people's will,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday.

Leadership sources from the opposition held Miqati responsible for any new war between Lebanon and Israel, noting that Hizbullah insists on “usurping” the state's decision-making power and keeping Lebanon under the control of Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday gave visiting U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi a proposal aimed at ending the conflict in key regional ally Syria.

Salehi said Tehran had "handed its unofficial detailed proposal in writing aimed at solving the Syrian crisis" to Brahimi as well as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, in comments broadcast on Arabic-language Al-Alam television.

Iran on Sunday scoffed at Israel's air defenses as it confirmed Tehran had provided Hizbullah with the sophisticated drone which overflew the Jewish state earlier this month.

Iran's "capabilities are very high and are at the disposal and service of Islamic nations," Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi said, quoted by state television when questioned on the origins of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora accused on Sunday Hizbullah of following Iran's bidding through its recent sending of an unmanned drone to fly over Israel.

He said during a seminar in the southern city of Sidon: “Hizbullah is dragging Lebanon towards military operations and a possible Israeli retaliation that the country has not been consulted over.”