The Iranian state news agency IRNA reports that the country’s leading reformist newspaper has been banned for two months for “spreading lies.”

No additional details were provided, but the pro-reform “Etemad” daily had recently published an interview with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s press adviser, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, in which he criticized the conservative opposition to the Iranian president.

The rift between Ahmadinejad and various hard-liners has been deepening in recent months, and is a sensitive issue ahead of the upcoming March parliamentary elections.

“Etemad” has been banned several times over the past decade.

Source : Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty