Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) Iran has arrested a man for starting a rumor that Russian President Vladimir Putin risked being assassinated during a landmark visit to Tehran in October.The individual, arrested a week ago, was a contract employee of a telecommunication company, an informed source told FNA.
The source declined to give any further details about the individual or how the rumor was spread.
Putin branded the report of an assassination plot against him as an attempt to “wreck” his mid-October visit to Iran, which was the first by a Kremlin chief since World War II.
There was initially speculation that Putin would stay away from Iran after the rumor emerged but the visit went ahead.
Iran dismissed the rumor as an attempt by its enemies to damage relations between Russia and Iran and hailed the completion of the visit as a major success in the face of US pressures to isolate Tehran over nuclear progress.
Some Iranian officials said Putin made a proposal aimed at breaking the deadlock in the nuclear standoff with the West to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei although this was never confirmed by Moscow.
