The Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Orientation said that BBC Tehran Office was suspended, the Iranian Mehr news agency reported.
"It was a long time that BBC functioned in Tehran. However BBC Tehran Office has been suspended because its own mistakes," Muhammad Huseyn Saffar Herandi, the Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Orientation, said on Dec. 24. Foreign news agencies should be attentive in their activities, he added. Herandi said that everybody is responsible for their mistakes and measures will be taken toward them in line with the Code of Administrative Violations.
On Dec. 20, Muhammad Karim Abidi, member of the Foreign Policy and National Security Commission of the Iranian parliament, said in his interview with ILNA news agency that several BBC reporters were arrested in Tehran. They are charged of espionage for the United Kingdom.
BBC reporters intended to create a network of espionage by organizing various groups, Abidi said.