A senior member of staff at the Swiss embassy in Tehran has died after falling from the high-rise building where she lived, Iranian media report.

An emergency services spokesman told Mehr news agency that the 51-year-old woman was first secretary at the embassy but did not give her name.

Police in the Kamraniyeh area alerted paramedics on Tuesday morning but she had been "dead for a while", he said.

The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed an employee had died in an accident.

"The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and its head Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis are shocked by the tragic death and express their deepest condolences to the family," a spokesperson said.

The ministry added that it was in touch with the family and Iranian authorities.

It gave no further information about the circumstances of the death, citing data protection and privacy reasons.

Switzerland has represented US diplomatic interests in Iran since Washington and Tehran severed relations shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.