Iran bans reformist newspaper over Assad visit coverage

Iran has banned a reformist newspaper following a headline deemed as offensive by state censors regarding a visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Tehran on Monday, when he met the country's leaders.

Ghanoon was told to halt publication due to a front page headline on a meeting between Assad and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

The headline for Ghanoon's online story covering Assad's visit was headlined "Uninvited Guest", which showed the Syrian dictator and the Iranian supreme leader warmly embracing. Others explained that the headline title "Gate Crasher" was used in the print newspaper.

"Ghanoon daily has received notification and its publication has been halted due to its (front page) headline on Tuesday," ISNA said.

The newspaper was told by Tehran's culture and media court it would be "temporarily banned", although no date was given for when the restrictions would end.

Assad reportedly flew to Iran on Monday to thank Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani for the help the country has provided in helping bolster his regime against opposition forces.

Iran has reportedly aided Damascus financially, as well as provide Iranian officers and Shia militias to bolster regime forces, which appeared to be on the verge of collapse many times in the war, which erupted in 2011.

Assad's forces have been responsible for the bulk of the war's half-a-million dead, with many in Iran questioning the Tehran's role in propping up the butcher.

The reformist publication has been banned twice before in recent years, once due to a caricature deemed "offensive to governmental organisations".

Another time was due to a report on an Iranian prison headlined "24 Damned Hours", according to Tasnim news agency.

Assad's visit to Tehran was eclipsed by the shock resignation Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's shock resignation announcement via an Instagram post.

Zarif was not pictured at any of the meetings with Assad.

"After the photos of today's meetings, Javad Zarif no longer has any credibility in the world as the foreign minister!" was a message received by Entekhab news agency after they tried to contact Zarif.

He told another newspaper that infighting between different factions in the regime was a factor in his resignation.

Conservatives in the Iranian government have sought to isolate reformists and moderates following the collapse of a nuclear deal with the US and the re-instatement of tough sanctions on the country, leading to economic woes.

Zarif - viewed as a moderate - was a key player in striking the deal with the US, which saw sanctions lifted and the warmest relations between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.