TEHRAN The Turkmen officials have asked an Iranian industrialist, Masoud Hashemzadeh, to leave that country in three days.

Hashemzadeh, the owner of an ice-cream producing factory, has said he is not informed of the reasons for his expulsion from Turkmenistan, and that he was told by the Turkmen Foreign Ministry on Tuesday that he had to leave that country.

This Iranian national told IRNA that he has been working in Turkmenistan in the past six years, adding that he imported the machinery for his factory from Italy.

The industrialist further told the news agency that the Turkmen officials revoked his and his brother's visas, which were valid for three months. "Instead, they charged some 80 dollars in order to give us three-day visas," he noted.

Hashemzadeh, who is the only Iranian factory owner in Ashkhabad, has to leave that city today.

The products of Pandamehr Ice-Cream Factory, one of the major ice-cream producing factories in Turkmenistan, are distributed in Ashkhabad and several Turkmen provinces.

He said that he has all the necessary legal documents for his work, and that he has paid all the due fees and taxes in time.

According to Hashemzadeh, the officials of Turkmenistan should give him the chance to take his factory machinery, worth nearly one million dollars, out of that country.

This factory owner also called on the officials of the Islamic Republic to take the necessary measures to support his investment.