TEHRAN - Iran closed the Tehran bureau of an Arabic television channel for alleged incitement Monday after saying that clashes between security forces and Arab protestors in a sensitive oil province had killed three people.
"We have ordered the temporary closure of the Al-Jazeera bureau," Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght, director general of the culture and Islamic guidance ministry, told AFP.
"This suspension will last for as long as is needed for our experts to examine the possible actions of the Al-Jazeera channel to provoke subversive elements in the troubles that took place."
There was no immediate reaction to the closure from the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster but it followed angry complaints against its coverage from Iranian MPs.
Lawmakers accused the channel of portraying last week's violence in the southwestern province of Khuzestan as separatist unrest by Iran's Arab minority.
They called for the "expulsion of representatives of the channel which had played an important role in the troubles."
A representative of the London-based Popular Democratic Front of Ahvazi Arabs in Iran, quoted by Al-Jazeera, said the group had called for peaceful demonstrations in Khuzestan "to mark 80 years of Iranian occupation" but the authorities had decided to use military force.
Iranians of Arab descent form the majority in the province's main city Ahvaz but just three percent of Iran's population as a whole.
"Three people were killed and some 200 people were arrested during the confrontations," interior ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani told AFP Monday.
He said minor troubles had erupted on Sunday evening at Mah-Shahr in the south of the province.
According to newspaper reports, demonstrators attacked and set fire to public buildings.
The authorities, who are very sensitive to issues relating to ethnic minorities, had previously said one person was killed and 137 arrested in Friday's clashes.
"All the troublemakers were arrested," Intelligence Minister Ali Yunessi was quoted as saying by state run television.
"It appeared that they were linked to the subversive groups and television stations," he said, using the term for those who are trying to overthrow Iran's Islamic regime.
The unrest, which broke out in three areas of Ahvaz, resulted in damage to public buildings and banks.
"All these troubles came about because of a forged letter attributed to the office of the presidency of the republic, but anyone who has ever worked in an administration would know it is false," Yunessi said.
The state news agency IRNA said earlier that the forged letter called for modifications to the ethnic composition of Khuzestan.
A local official said the letter was attributed to former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi and dated from when he ran President Mohammad Khatami's office.
Abtahi denied on his website that he was behind the letter, which reportedly said that "Arabs must emigrate, Arab names of towns and villages (in Khuzestan) must become Persian."
04/18/2005 16:05 GMT