The director general of Iran's Chabahar Free Zone, an economic development project in the country's southeast, has been arrested for "major offences", state news agency IRNA reported.

It said the prosecutor in Sistan-Baluchistan province placed Abdorahim Kordi in custody, citing a statement from the intelligence branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Islamic republic's ideological army.

Details on the alleged infractions were not provided.

Kordi had been named to his post in 2016 under the former government of moderate president Hassan Rouhani, who was replaced last year by ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi.

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Located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Pakistan, the Chabahar free trade zone was established in 1994, allowing ships to avoid the busy Strait of Hormuz.

By 2015, about 2,000 companies had a presence there.

Half were from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Gulf, while 30 percent were from China and other Asian countries. The remaining 20 percent were from the West.

When the United States reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran in 2018, Chabahar port was the only Iranian port with exemptions.