AN Iranian regulatory agency has announced new guidelines to ensure "objectivity" in the media.

The move appears to be the latest in a series of measures aimed at reining in the local and international press, after contested June 12 presidential elections and the clashes between demonstrators and authorities.

In the aftermath of the vote and amid massive protests, Iran clamped down on journalists, refusing to extend visas and forbidding correspondents from attending unapproved gatherings or news conferences.

Regime officials rounded up scores of local journalists, and accused the foreign media of inciting violence or working as agents of foreign governments during the unrest.

Forty-one journalists and bloggers are being held by authorities in the Islamic republic, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Iran expelled the BBC's correspondent in Tehran, Jon Leyne, and has detained since mid-last month Iranian-Canadian reporter Maziar Bahari, who has reported for Newsweek.

Iran's State Inspectorate Organisation, a sort of super-regulatory agency that supervises a wide range of government administrations, said the guidelines would ensure that any criticism communicated through state media was "constructive", "non-judgmental" and did not "stray from objectivity", the state-controlled English-language Press TV website quoted SIO chief Mostafa Pourmohammadi as saying.

He failed to give details of the new rules, and it was unclear which outlets were specifically targeted -- the government-controlled media or the heavily monitored independent press. It was also unclear how much clout the agency has in pursuing violations or referring them to authorities for enforcement.

Still, the public decree appeared to ratchet up pressure on journalists in the country. Press TV said the new guidelines came after "provocative, insulting, derogatory and defamatory" reports in the run-up to the election.

Meanwhile, the mobile phone company Nokia is facing a boycott in Iran for working with the regime. Demand for Nokia handsets had plunged by up to 50 per cent since reports that the company sold communications monitoring systems to Iran, Britain's The Guardian reported yesterday.