A journalist with joint British and Greek nationality held in Iran for more than two weeks was reported by Iranian state television last night to have been released.

The freelance reporter, believed to be Iason Athanasiadis-Fowden and also known as Jason Fowden, was arrested as he was attempting to leave the country.

Working in the country for The Washington Times, he was thought to be the only non-Iranian reporter being held in the wake of protests over Iran's disputed presidential election.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi was reported as saying he had been freed in the framework of “Tehran-Athens ties”.