DUBAI – Iran’s foreign minister said he believed the detention of a former diplomat linked to the country’s reformists was caused by a “misunderstanding” and defended the man’s record, Iranian media reported.



Bagher Asadi, who was a senior diplomat at Iran’s UN mission in New York before becoming a director at the secretariat of the D8 group of developing nations in Istanbul, was arrested mid-March in the Iranian capital, sources told Reuters this week.



It was not clear where Asadi was being held, who arrested the 61-year-old diplomat or on what grounds, the sources said.



Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi confirmed Asadi’s arrest, the ISNA news agency reported on Thursday.



“It’s unfortunate that there has been a misunderstanding regarding Mr. Bagher Asadi, one of the highly skilled and valuable experts in the foreign ministry who has a good track record and from whom we have seen nothing but efforts to secure the country’s interests, and we are hopeful this misunderstanding will be resolved,” Salehi said.



Salehi did not say who had arrested Asadi.



“From what we know of Mr. Bagher Asadi, we know him as a devout person ... and a very reputable official with a brilliant record,” Salehi said. “God willing, this misunderstanding will be resolved and by the grace of God he will be freed.” – Reuters