Pakistani ambassador to Iran assaulted in Tehran

Pakistan's ambassador to Iran was assaulted in the parking lot of a sauna in northern Tehran on Tuesday, and authorities were questioning the Afghan assailant, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

Ambassador Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi was lightly wounded and taken to a hospital in the north of the capital, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast. The ambassador was not accompanied by a driver or guards at the time of the incident, Mehmanparast said.

"Today Pakistan's ambassador, as he was walking, was beaten up by an unarmed Afghan," Mehmanparast said in a statement carried by Fars news agency.

He dismissed some media speculation that the ambassador, Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi, had been the target of an "assassination attempt."

He said Abbasi is "well" after being taken to hospital, adding that the Afghan attacker had been arrested and put under investigation.

The Afghan man, who attacked the ambassador after the two began to argue, tried to escape but was caught by police, the spokesman said.

The Pakistani Embassy refused to comment.

Abbasi had wounds to his head and a hand, according to a report by the semiofficial ISNA news agency that quoted Tehran police chief Gen. Hossein Sajedinia.

"The ambassador went to a gym several times a week without his bodyguards. This afternoon while he was on his way he had a clash with a 21-year-old Afghan, he was injured on the head and fell," police chief Sajedinia said.

"Policemen appeared on the scene after phone calls by people and arrested that person," he said. "The ambassador is well now and the detained man is being interrogated."