Iran says it has arrested some 200 people and closed the offices of Arab language television station al-Jazeera following ethnic disturbances in recent days involving Arab-Iranians.
There are reports of casualties from clashes between protesters and security forces in southwestern Khuzestan province, but the number could not be confirmed.
Iran's information minister Ali Younessi says foreign television stations sparked the trouble after they publicized what he said was a forged government document that discussed plans to relocate ethnic Arabs from the oil-rich area.
Iranian officials later said they had "temporarily closed" the Tehran offices of the Qatar-based al-Jazeera channel while officials investigate the station's role in the incident.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP.