Iran confirms dissident arrested

The state-run news agency in Iran has confirmed that the head of the only opposition group that's tolerated in Iran -- Ibrahim Yazdi -- has been arrested.

The agency IRNA gave no reason for the arrest, and said no further information was available on what legal steps would be taken.

On Monday, Mr Yazdi's group, the Freedom Movement, said he'd been taken in for questioning and then transferred to prison.

His arrest is being linked by correspondents to the continuing power struggle between Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei and the moderate president, Mohammad Khatami.

Mr Yazdi is one of the most prominent critics of Iran's conservative clerical establishment which has ruled Iran for the past eighteen years.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service