Second ally of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani faces trial

Divisions within the regime have increased after election gains by hardliners in February

Iran's vice president and environment minister Isa Kalantari speaks to AFP during an interview in the capital Tehran, on October 2, 2018. Mr Kalantari is facing trial for making a comment that was allegedly critical of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. AFP PhotoShow less

Iranian prosecutors have pressed criminal charges against a deputy of President Hassan Rouhani, the judiciary said, making him the second ally of Mr Rouhani to face prosecution in recent weeks.

Vice President Isa Kalantari, who is Iran's environment chief, is involved in an ongoing case involving the condition of a lagoon in north of the country as well as "remarks that circulated recently on social media", judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters on Tuesday.

He did not elaborate.

Mr Kalantari has faced strong criticism from conservative media in recent days over comments he made in a year-old interview that they deemed insulting to the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"He has presented his explanations. We must wait and see what the court decides, as he has only been recently summoned," Mr Esmaili said.

Mr Kalantari told state news agency IRNA on Sunday that his comments had been taken out of context.

"If you listen to the whole interview, you will see no such [insult] has taken place. It's not logical to draw conclusions from 20-40 seconds of a two-hour interview," he said.

The 68-year-old served as agriculture minister in the 1990s and was appointed head of the environment department in 2017.

The charges against Mr Kalantari come just days after it was reported that former vice president Shahindokht Molaverdi had been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on charges of handing classified information to foreign parties and "propaganda" against the state.

Ms Molaverdi served as vice president for women's affairs during Mr Rouhani's first term as president and was replaced by current Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar in 2017.

She said she intends to appeal.

When asked about her case, Mr Esmaili said he could not comment as the "verdict issued is not yet final".

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Gallery: A year of rising tensions with Iran

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  An exhibition, calling for an end to executions in Iran, in Trafalgar Square on October 10, 2020 in London, England. The exhibition, held by Anglo-Iranian communities in the UK, marked the World Day against the Death Penalty. Getty Images

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  Qassem Suleimani, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General and commander of the Quds Force. A US strike killed the top Iranian commander and the deputy head of Iraq's PMU military force at Baghdad's airport early on January 3, 2019. AFP

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  A destroyed vehicle on fire following a US strike on January 3, 2020 on Baghdad international airport road in which top Iranian commander Qassem Suleimani was killed along with eight others, including the deputy head of Iraq's powerful PMU paramilitary force. AFP

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  Iranian people attend a funeral procession for Iranian Major-General Qassem Suleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Tehran, Iran January 6, 2020. Reuters

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  Mourners attend a funeral ceremony for Iranian General Qassem Suleimani. The processions mark the first time Iran honoured a single man with a multi-city ceremony. Not even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic, received such a processional with his death in 1989. AP

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  Rockets launched from Iran against the US military base in Ein-al Asad in Iraq, on January 8, 2020, days after the General Qassem Suleimani was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad. EPA