Iranian reformist daily newspaper, 'Shargh', was shut down late Wednesday over a caricature deemed insulting to war veterans.

The daily Shargh was ordered closed by the Press Supervisory Board, and Medhi Rahmanian, its managing director also detained for publishing a cartoon which allegedly insulted ex-soldiers with headbands during the country's war with Iraq.

Iranian reformist newspaper Shargh published a cartoon on Tuesday (Sep. 25) - depicting men in plainclothes who line up, each blindfolding the one in front- that Iran's hardliners interpreted it as an offensive caricature insulting Basij and IRGC forces  of the eight-year Holy Defense against the former Iraqi Baathist regime.

As the cartoon came at a time Iran was marking the 32 anniversary of Iran's Sacred defense against the Saddam regime's incursion into the country during which Iranian soldiers wore headbands on which holy words were printed, the newspaper and the  caricaturist, Hadi Heidari, were faced with severe criticism.

But the caricaturist, Hadi Heidari, posted messages on his Facebook page saying his work has been misinterpreted and that his caricature simply showed 'ignorance' to criticize those who blindly follow others.

Eventually with harliners' pressure and more than 100 Members of Parliament protested against the caricature publication, calling on the judiciary to seriously deal with the reformist newspaper, the Press Supervisory Board held an emergency meeting at Wednesday night.

At the end of the meeting, members of the Press Supervisory Board decided to shut down the newspaper, and send the case to the court.

On the other hand, Medhi Rahmanian, managing director of the daily Shargh was summoned to Tehran Public Court on Tuesday morning to explain about publishing insulting cartoon, at last an arrest warrant was issued for him by the  Branch 9 investigator of Culture and Media Court.