Iason Athanasiadis, the 30-year-old Greek correspondent for the Washington Times who had been covering Iran’s disputed presidential election until he was arrested in Teheran two weeks ago, is to be freed by Sunday morning, Iran’s ambassador in Athens has told Kathimerini.

“We are pleased to confirm that within the next 48 hours the Greek journalist will have been freed,” Mehdi Honardoost told Kathimerini yesterday morning.

Last Tuesday an Iranian Culture Ministry official had confirmed the arrest of Athanasiadis at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport but without clarifying what charges the reporter faced.

In an interview with Kathimerini, Honardoost did not elaborate about the case of Athanasiadis, who has in the past contributed to the Greek newspapers Kathimerini and Athens News. The diplomat referred to an “emotional reaction” to the Iranian election fallout by a section of the Iranian population, claiming that this outpouring had been exploited by foreign powers as part of an “organized conspiracy” against Iran.