TEHRAN (IRNA) -- Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Press and Information Affairs, Ali-Reza Melkian, confirmed a report on banning of a Persian-language paper and said it was shout down for interviewing an anti-revolutionary figure.

The morning daily, Sharq (East), was banned Monday morning for the second time in less than a year.
""The main reason for banning Sharq is its interview with an anti revolutionary figure who is known for promoting immoral issues,"" Melkian said.
The Press Supervisory Board has ordered the ban as it found the interview, published on page 18 of the paper's Saturday's issue, as ""promoter of immoral issues which are against the public decency,"" Melkian explained.
He added the interviewee was ""one of the known elements promoting immoral issues in its website, Cheragh (the Lamp).""
Melkian said that any closure or other decisions about the paper should be made by court.
Sharq removed the interview from its website Saturday afternoon and tried to make up for it by publishing a ""note of apology"" in its Sunday and Monday issues.
The paper said in the 'note of apology,' that it knew nothing about the immoral records of the interviewee.
The paper was closed down for the first time in September 2006 for publishing an insulting cartoon on its last page