Iran arrests former editor of hardline Kayhan newspaper

Mehdi Nasiri, a political activist and former editor of the hardline Kayhan newspaper, was arrested on Sunday in Mashhad.

Nasiri previously served as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative at Kayhan and was its chief editor during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Over the past two years, Nasiri has been a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic and its Supreme Leader.

The reason behind the arrest has not been announced, but several outlets have attributed it to recent remarks in which he called for a broad coalition of opponents of the Islamic Republic, ranging from monarchists to reformists within the country. He also urged all opposition factions to accept the leadership of exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi for a transitional period in order to move beyond the Islamic Republic.