Iran said on Sunday it had arrested seven people accused of stoking unrest after last year's disputed election, including some who were hired by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Seven people organisationally linked to the counter-revolutionaries, the Zionist media and elements of the sedition have been arrested," IRNA quoted an Intelligence Ministry statement as saying, without naming them.

It said the detainees were also linked to a U.S.-backed Farsi-language radio station and had received training in Istanbul and Dubai, for example in disrupting public order, spreading rumours and conducting sabotage.

"A number of them were officially hired by the U.S. intelligence agency, the CIA," the statement said, adding that they had played an important role in 'post-election riots', particularly on the Shi'ite mourning day of Ashura that fell on Dec. 27.

Eight people were killed in clashes, in the most serious violence since the aftermath of the June election.


Reuters