'ISIS will be happy' Mocking Russian ambassador tweets US with Harold and Kumar photo

His scathing attack was a put-down that divided Twitter, with some criticising him for likening the American actor to a terrorist, while others saw the obvious funny side.

Fortunately, it was taken in good humour by Mr Penn himself.

The 38-year-old retorted with a picture of Ivan Drago, the Soviet boxer in Rocky IV, posting: "The Russian Federation ambassador to the UK tweeted this Harold & Kumar pic with seriousness. I can't stop laughing."

He then sent a tweet to Mr Yakovenko, with the picture, saying simply: "Thank you, Mr Ambassador."

Mr Yakovenko, Moscow's ambassador to the UK since 2011, had earlier tweeted: "US threatens to stop helping Iraq against ISIL if Baghdad asks Russia for help. The terrorists must be rejoicing."

The picture he included featured Kal Penn wearing a headdress and fake beard in a clip from Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

The 2008 film told the story of the pair being incarcerated in the US jail after being mistaken for terrorists on a flight to Amsterdam.

In Mr Yakovenko's image, Kumar is laughing hysterically and signalling the downing of a plane in the mind of another passenger, who later gets him thrown in jail when his bong is mistaken for a bomb.

(dailystar.co.uk)