Ahmadinejad Ally Arrested in Iran

The New York Times reports:

A close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has been arrested amid a deepening power struggle between the president and the country’s highest religious leader, Iranian news agencies reported Thursday.

Fars, a semiofficial state news agency, did not specify the reason for the arrest of Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh, who resigned as former deputy foreign minister earlier this week, but a report by the Mehr, another semiofficial agency pointed to allegations of financial misdeeds.

Mr. Malekzadeh’s arrest came two days after he resigned in the face of a growing opposition from members of the Iranian Parliament, who threatened to impeach the foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, if he did not dismiss Mr. Malekzadeh.