Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that authorities have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Saturday report says the office of Tehran prosecutor’s said police detained Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei for “investigations.” It did not elaborate.

On Thursday, Mashaei, in front of the British embassy in Tehran, burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghaei, another Ahmadinejad ally who was sentenced to 15 years for the misuse of public funds when he was a vice-president under Ahmadinejad. Baghaei began serving his term earlier this week.

Several of Ahmdainejad’s allies are in jail over the misappropriation of public funds.



During Baghaei’s trial, Ahmadinejad repeatedly appeared outside the court criticizing many officials, including the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani.

Last Update: Sunday, 18 March 2018 KSA 01:10 - GMT 22:10</s>TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that authorities have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Saturday report says the office of Tehran prosecutor's said police detained Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei for "investigations." It did not elaborate.

On Thursday, Mashaei, in front of the British embassy in Tehran, burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghaei, another Ahmadinejad ally who was sentenced to 15 years for the misuse of public funds when he was a vice-president under Ahmadinejad. Baghaei began serving his term earlier this week.

Several of Ahmdainejad's allies are in jail over the misappropriation of public funds.

During Baghaei's trial, Ahmadinejad repeatedly appeared outside the court criticizing many officials, including the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Iranian authorities say they have detained a close ally of former hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a former vice president and chief of staff of Ahmadinejad, was arrested on March 17, the website of Tehran’s prosecutor said.

It said Mashaei was arrested by police officers who were acting on the orders of the judiciary.

No further details were provided.

Mashaei served as first vice president in 2009 at the start of Ahmadinejad's contested second term in office.

Mashaei’s detention comes after video uploaded on social media showed him protesting outside the British Embassy in Tehran on March 15 against the incarceration of another of Ahmadinejad's vice presidents.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Mashaei’s lawyer, Mehran Abdollapour, as saying that his client was probably arrested for having burnt a copy of a court verdict sentencing Hamid Baghai during the protest.

A court in December found Baghai guilty of embezzlement and illegal business transactions, and he began serving his 15-year prison term on March 13.

Several of Ahmadinejad's allies have been jailed over the misappropriation of public funds.

Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who was president from 2005 to 2013, defended Mashaei in a statement, calling his arrest “a violation of the constitution... that confirms the need for fundamental reforms within the judiciary."

The ex-president has become increasingly isolated for challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his powerful allies, namely the judiciary.

Ahmadinejad last year accused the judiciary of "dictatorship."

In a letter marking the celebrations of the anniversary of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad said in February that the judiciary has become “the main pillar of oppression” against the Iranian people.

The letter followed reports that media activists who support Ahmadinejad had been detained. The reason for their arrests was not immediately clear.

The Guardians Council -- which vets presidential candidates -- prevented Ahmadinejad and Baghai from running in the 2017 presidential election that returned President Hassan Rohani to office for a second term.

With reporting by AFP and AP</s>Mashaei was arrested for further investigations after putting on fire the verdict on imprisonment of another Ahmadinejad's ally, Hamid Baghaei, the IRNA agency reported. Mashaei was also charged with propaganda against the country's political elite, and the relevant case was opened against him.

Mashaei was First Vice President of Iran for one week in 2009 until Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered his resignation.He served as Ahmadinejad's Presidential Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2013.

In January, Iranian authorities have arrested former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for allegedly supporting anti-government protests in the country, media reported, citing its sources in Tehran.

In late December 2017, Ahmadinejad, addressing the Bushehr residents, reportedly slammed incumbent Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his government, accusing them of distancing from the people's problems, "bad governance" and "monopoly on public wealth."

Ahmadinejad was the country's president for two consecutive terms — from 2005 to 2013. In 2009, protests sparked in the country after he was re-elected.</s>A former Iranian vice president and chief-of-staff of hardline ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was arrested on Saturday, the website of the Tehran prosecutor said.

Esfandiar "Rahim Mashaie was arrested and is in detention," it said, without specifying the reason why he was held.

It simply said he was arrested by the police who were acting on the orders of the judiciary.

Mashaie served as first vice president in 2009 at the start of Ahmadinejad's contested second term in office.

But his tenure was cut short and he was he was forced to step down by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after saying that Iran was a friend of the US and Israeli people.

His detention comes after video uploaded on social media showed Mashaie demonstrating Thursday outside the British embassy to protest against the incarceration of another of Ahmadinejad's vice presidents.

Hamid Baghaie was arrested on Tuesday to begin serving a 15-year jail sentence that was issued against him in December when a court found him guilty of embezzlement and illegal business transactions.

ISNA news agency quoted Mashaie's lawyer, Mehran Abdollapour, as saying his client was arrested in the evening as he was leaving Baghaie's house.

"My client was probably arrested for having recently burnt (a copy) of Mr. Baghaie's verdict outside the British embassy," the lawyer said.

Ahmadinejad and Baghaie both hoped to stand in the May 2017 presidential election, but the conservative-dominated Guardians Council rejected their candidacy.

Meshaie, who was the chief-of-staff of Iran's former hardline two-term president, was barred from standing in the 2013 presidential election as well by the Guardians Council.</s>Baku. 22 January. REPORT.AZ/ First deputy of the former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Rahimi sentenced to 5 years 91 days in prison on corruption charges. Report informs referring to IRNA agency, Tehran Court for Serious Crimes issued the verdict against Rahimi, and sentenced him to imprisonment for 15 years, as well to return 826 thousand USD and pay a fine of 290 thousand USD.

As the former deputy of ex-president appealed the court's decision, the sentence was reduced to 5 years 91 days.

According to the information he was accused of that, being the first Vice President, he "took bribe" from the insurance company.</s>Bloodstained debris litter the street after a bomb blast in Mahabad Iran in this image taken from TV Wednesday Sept 22, 2010. (AP Photo/Al Alam, via APTN)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A bomb exploded at a military parade in northwestern Iran on Wednesday, killing 10 spectators in an attack that one official blamed on Kurdish separatists who have fought Iranian forces in the area for decades.

The blast in the city of Mahabad, close to the borders with Iraq and Turkey, also injured 57 people, Iranian media reports said. Most of the victims were women and children, said provincial Governor Vahid Jalalzadeh, who was quoted in a report by Iran's state broadcasting company.

Iranian forces in the border zone have for years clashed with Kurdish rebels from the Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which also has fighters based in Turkey and Iraq. The group in Iran has generally not targeted civilians in its campaign for greater rights for the Kurdish minority, raising the prospect that the bomb might have gone off prematurely.

A state radio report said the device was detonated on a timer and had been placed under a bush near the parade route.

Jalalzadeh told state TV the explosion was carried out by "counterrevolutionaries," a reference to the Kurdish separatist group. He called the bombing "a terrorist incident" and said it was carried out with the support of foreign governments.

"This move has a foreign root. The U.S. and its allies are present in the region," he said.

Iranian officials have frequently accused the U.S., Britain and other Western powers of stoking disorder in the country, including the unrest that swept Iran after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June 2009.

Britain's foreign minister condemned Wednesday's attack. "This horrific bombing underlines the need to stand together against terrorism wherever it rears its head," Alistair Burt said in a written statement.

State TV broadcast a short segment of video capturing the moment the blast shook the parade. It showed soldiers marching in front of a stage for VIPs as the sound of the explosion rang out. The area was left littered with debris and bits of torn clothing.

The footage also showed military personnel rushing to the blast site and injured women being treated in a hospital.

The parade was one of several held around the country to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war. No military personnel were wounded, Jalalzadeh said.

The Mehr news agency said the dead included the wives of two of ranking military officers.

"The explosion happened opposite the VIP stage among women who were present there," Jalalzadeh was quoted as saying in the state TV report.

The Iranian branch of the Kurdish rebel group, the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, says it is fighting for greater rights in Iran.

The city of Mahabad is home to 190,000 people — most of them Kurds and Sunni Muslims. Iran is predominantly Shiite.

Mahabad was once the capital of the self-proclaimed republic of Kurdistan in Iran. Iran's armed forces recaptured Mahabad in 1946.

Government forces in Iraq, Iran and Turkey have all periodically battled with the Kurdish minorities straddling their borders. They fear the groups are seeking to unite territory in all three nations to form an independent Kurdish homeland.

The most active rebellion is in southeastern Turkey, where the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, has fought for greater autonomy and civil rights since 1984 in a battle that has killed tens of thousands of people. They have sometimes operated from bases across the border in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, sparking a large-scale cross-border Turkish military campaign in February 2008 that involved airstrikes and ground troops.

The group in Iran is a wing of the PKK and also sometimes operates inside friendly territory in Iraqi Kurdistan. Like Turkey, Iran's military has attacked their bases on the other side of the border with occasional artillery strikes.

Inside Iran, their fight has mostly involved occasional roadside bombs and other attacks targeting security forces. Iranian authorities also linked the rebels to a terrorist cell whose members were arrested last month on suspicion of plotting to assassinate officials.

Associated Press writer David Stringer contributed to this report from London.</s>DOHA, Qatar (AP) — U.S. officials sought to shore up support Sunday for a tougher stand against Iran's nuclear program by saying Tehran had left the world little choice and expressing confidence that holdout China would come around to harsher U.N. penalties.

President Barack Obama's senior military adviser called for more time so diplomatic pressure had a chance to succeed and said from Israel, which considers Iran a strategic threat and has hinted it could attack if negotiations failed, that such action could have "unintended consequences" throughout the volatile Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a quick visit to Persian Gulf allies Qatar and Saudi Arabia, said in a speech that Iran has not lived up to its nuclear obligations and has rebuffed U.S. and international efforts to engage in serious talks.

As a result, Clinton told the U.S.-Islamic World Forum that the U.S. and others were working on "new measures" to try to persuade Iran to change its course.

"We do not believe Iran should be a nuclear weapons power," Clinton said at a news conference before her address. She criticized Iran's defiance and said Tehran would not succeed in overcoming international opposition to it nuclear ambitions.

In an exchange with the audience after the speech, Clinton said, "It's time for Iran to be held to account for its activities."

The United States and some of its allies suspect Tehran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge and says it only has peaceful intentions.

Obama has said that work to broaden economic sanctions in the U.N. Security Council is moving along quickly, but he hasn't given a specific timeline. China, one of five permanent members of the Security Council, has close economic ties to Iran and can block a resolution by itself.

"We have the support of everyone from Russia to Europe. And I believe we'll get the support of China to continue to impose sanctions on Iran to isolate them, to make it clear that in fact they cannot move forward," U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press" from Canada, where he was attending the Olympics.

"We need to work on China a little bit more," added Obama's national security adviser, James Jones. "But China wants to be seen as a responsible global influence in this. On this issue, they can't, they cannot be nonsupportive," he told "Fox News Sunday."

U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Tel Aviv that it was important to let diplomacy and international pressure work. While every situation has limits, he said, "we're not there yet."

Clinton's stops in Qatar and in Saudi Arabia coincided with a string of diplomatic and military contacts in the Middle East, including Mullen's visits to both Egypt and Israel.

Her top three deputies — James Steinberg, Jacob Lew and William Burns — were expected in the region in coming days. So was Gen. David Petraeus, chief of U.S. Central Command with responsibility for U.S. military operations across the Middle East.

Their agenda is not focused exclusively on Iran. There also is an American push for closer cooperation in Yemen against al-Qaida, a move toward bolstering diplomatic relations with Syria and efforts to get Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations back on track.

Clinton's trip follows closely on the Iranian president's claim that his country had produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also insisted on Thursday that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons, yet would not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program — a reference to new U.S. financial penalties imposed a day earlier.

After an overnight flight from Washington, Clinton went directly into a series of high-level meetings in the Qatari capital ahead of her evening speech. Obama addressed the forum by video on Saturday, announcing his appointment of a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents nearly 60 Muslim states across four continents and promotes Muslim solidarity in social and political affairs.

In Cairo, Mullen said after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Iran was a key challenge to the security of the Middle East. He accused Tehran of spreading its radical influence in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Iraq, and said the U.S. would work through the Security Council to seek new sanctions.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both situated across the Persian Gulf from Iran, are concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions. They are seen by the Obama administration as an important part of a regional effort to persuade the Iranians that it is in their economic interest to give up their uranium enrichment program as called for in a series of U.N. resolutions that Iran has ignored.

The State Department's top Middle East policy officer, Jeffrey Feltman, who accompanied Clinton, told reporters on the flight from Washington that Iran would figure prominently in Clinton's discussions in both Qatar and in Saudi Arabia.

Feltman said the U.S. believes the two Gulf allies, as well as other countries in the region, can help "sharpen the question for Iran" as to whether it is better off continuing to seek higher-enriched uranium that is closer to weapons grade or halt the program.

"We would expect them (Gulf allies) to use their relationship in ways that can help increase the pressure that Iran feels," Feltman said.

Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.</s>Iranian-American businessman Reza Taghavi, 71, speaks at this home a day after he was released from Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian-American businessman freed after more than two years in Tehran's main prison visited survivors of a deadly 2008 mosque bombing as a condition of his release in a scripted event Sunday that could carry propaganda value at home.

Iranian authorities did not immediately explain their demand for 71-year-old Reza Taghavi to pay homage in the southern city of Shiraz — and personally acknowledge an attack in which he denies having any connection. But it would fit neatly into possible Iranian attempts to squeeze multiple messages from Taghavi's release on Saturday after 29 months in custody.

It can easily score political points at home for the ruling clerics at a time when international sanctions are hurting Iran's economy.

Iran is pressing to resume talks on its nuclear program with the United States and other world powers after a yearlong standoff. The European Union's foreign affairs and security chief, Catherine Ashton, suggested last week after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that talks could be held as early as next month.

But Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has already thrown up a big hurdle — saying talks could move forward only if the West clarifies its position on Israel's undeclared, but widely suspected, nuclear arsenal.

The U.S. and allies fear Iran could use its nuclear fuel labs to eventually produce weapons-grade material. Iran says it only seeks peaceful energy-producing reactors.

Taghavi's attorney — former U.S. diplomat Pierre Prosper — said he purposely left American officials out of the negotiations to avoid having his client become a bargaining chip.

"Our strategy was to make sure that our dialogue with the (Iranian) government was between us and them," said Prosper, who held five rounds of direct talks with Iranian envoys since Taghavi was jailed.

Prosper said the talks ultimately convinced authorities that his client had no links to a rebel group blamed for the Shiraz mosque bombing that killed 14 people. Taghavi says he unwittingly gave $200 to someone with ties to the group.

Taghavi's detention drew far less international attention than the campaign to free three young Americans taken into custody last year along Iran's border with Iraq and accused of spying. One of the three, Sarah Shourd, was granted freedom last month on $500,000 bail.

Shourd's two companions, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, remain jailed and face possible trial on espionage charges. Shourd and the families of the other Americans deny they committed any crime and say they were just hiking in a scenic and relatively peaceful part of northern Iraq. They say that if the three did cross the border with Iran, they did so unwittingly.

Some conditions of Shourd's release were similar to those for Taghavi. Shourd was allowed to leave Iran only after meeting with children of an Iranian woman jailed in the United States and visiting families of Iranians held for two years by American forces in Iraq.

Taghavi — accompanied by his wife and lawyer — fulfilled his pledge to visit the site of the mosque bombing. They later met with survivors, including people who lost relatives in the attack. Iran did not immediately release video of the encounters on state TV.

"Freedom is something so good. No one can imagine. I hope everybody enjoys his freedom," Taghavi told The Associated Press in Tehran before leaving for Shiraz, about 550 miles (885 kilometers) south of the capital. He plans to return to his home in southern California on Thursday via London.

Taghavi — who regularly visits Iran to conduct business and see family — had been jailed for passing $200 to someone suspected of links to a rebel group known as Tondar, which seeks to topple the Islamic system and was implicated in the mosque bombing. In 2009, Iran hanged three men convicted of a role in the bombing.

Taghavi, who was never formally charged, denies knowingly supporting the faction. He told AP Television News that he was given the money by an acquaintance in the United States and "brought the money here without knowing anything about it."

He said his friend took advantage of his trust and that he plans to sue him.

Iran blames the United States and Britain for supporting groups seeking to destabilize the Islamic system. Both countries deny the accusations.

Taghavi said he spent part of his time in Evin prison in wards that held many detainees from the effort to crush dissent after the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad in June 2009. Shourd and the other two Americans detained with her were also held in Evin.

Prosper, Taghavi's attorney, told the AP his client "admitted to nothing and he continues to maintain his innocence."

Iranian officials are "comfortable that he was in fact used by this organization, and comfortable that he does not pose a threat to them and that he can leave and go back to the United States," said Prosper, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes under the administration of President George W. Bush.

Taghavi said prison authorities at Evin did not mistreat him and "didn't do anything wrong to me."

"They were kind to me, especially as I am old, and you know, they were watching carefully with me," said Taghavi.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Noel Clay said Saturday the United States welcomes the "release of Reza Taghavi from detention in Evin Prison in Iran, and are pleased that he will soon be reunited with his family."

"We urge Iranian authorities to extend the same consideration to Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, and other detained Americans by resolving their cases without delay," Clay said.

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AP's National Security Writer Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.</s>Baku. 7 October. REPORT.AZ/ Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan will start his two-day official visit to Iran on October 9 at the invitation of the Eshaq Jahangiri, First Vice-President of Islamic Republic of Iran, Report informs citing the Armenian media.

The head of the Armenian government will meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, First Vice-President of Islamic Republic of Iran Eshaq Jahangiri and Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Larijani.

Karen Karapetyan will also visit the sports club "Ararat", where a meeting with representatives of the local Armenian community, including representatives of business circles, is planned.
Former Vice President of Iran Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is arrested after criticizing Iran's judiciary.