Iran holds people it says linked to US-backed networks

TEHRAN, July 25 (Reuters) Iran has detained some individuals in connection with the two American-Iranians who were arrested accused of endangering the country's security and spying, the intelligence minister was quoted as saying.

Haleh Esfandiari, an academic at the US-based Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, and Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant with the Soros institute, founded by billionaire investor George Soros, were detained separately in May while visiting Iran from the United States.

''Some people related to networks of Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh have been arrested,'' the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying today.

He did not say how many individuals had been detained or whether they were dual nationals as well.

''They are local agents used by Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh's networks,'' the minister said.

Iran's most powerful figure Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused Washington of backing a US-backed so-called ''soft revolution'' that involves using intellectuals and others in the country to try to undermine the ruling system.

Iran's state television aired a programme last week called ''In the Name of Democracy'', featuring interviews with Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh, who said they had helped create a network ''to lead to very fundamental changes in Iran's system''.

Washington has called the programme illegitimate.

The programme made no mention of two other American-Iranians detained on spying charges, one of whom has been freed on bail.

Washington is leading efforts to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which Iran says is solely to generate electricity.

The two countries, which cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, held a second round of talks on Tuesday, following a landmark meeting in Baghdad in May.

Reuters SBC GC1906