Iran on Saturday dismissed as "forged" a letter allegedly ordering coercive relocation of ethnic Arabs after it sparked riots in the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan.

The letter, attributed to former Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi to promote migration of the Arab population in Khuzestan province to the northern provinces of the country, provoked the Arab residents in the province recently.

In clashes between police and ethnic Arabs in the provincial capital of Ahvaz on Friday night, several state buildings includingbanks and police cars were damaged and at least three people were injured, the official IRNA news agency said on Saturday.

Iranian government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said the letter was "forged and aimed at provoking ethnic tensions".

"President Mohammad Khatami had ordered the Intelligence Ministry and the Supreme National Security Council to identify those behind the unrest," Ramezanzadeh said.

"Due to the special investigations carried out by the presidential office, it has become clear that there exists no letter with such a content," Ramezanzadeh stressed.

"Furthermore, the content of the letter does not comply with any political principles of the Islamic Republic and it is merely aimed at inciting Iranian ethnic groups," he added.

Meanwhile, Abtahi in person denied having written such a letter, saying on his website that anyone who read the letter would realize that such a decision could not be implemented in Iran.

"I have never had the prerogative to order a change of demographic composition," Abtani added.

Governor of Khuzestan province Fathollah Moin called on local people to remain "vigilant against divisive plots".

"The aim of the distributors of this forged letter is to disrupt the existing solidarity among peoples of the province through creating disunity and division and instigating public opinion," Moin added.

Qodratollah Dehqan, an official at the provincial governor's office, was quoted as saying that the area had returned to calmnessand the police had brought situation under control.

Dehqan said that the government was investigating to see whether "the hands of foreign agents or enemies of the (Islamic) revolution were at work".

"We are trying to convince ethnic Arabs of Ahvaz that those who want to perturb unity among Arabs and non-Arabs through their evil and antagonistic acts definitely are not friends of the revolution," he said.

There are about 2 million ethnic Arabs in Iran, most of them living in Khuzestan, a province accounts for almost 90% of Iran's proven oil reserve.

Source: Xinhua