Iran tightens TV controls

NICOSIA (Reuter) - The younger brother of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the President of Iran, became senior deputy foreign minister yesterday, a day after he was sacked as head of radio and television.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the Foreign Minister, appointed Mohammad Hashemi as his first deputy. Mr Hashemi, who studied in California before the fall of the Shah in 1979, has headed the state broadcasting organisation for 13 years, but changes have now been ordered by Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader, to tighten control.