"There has been a person who passed information to the foreigners and encouraged them to issue tougher resolutions" against Iran, Ahmadinejad told a gathering of Islamist students, according to the ISNA news agency.

"He is a member of an official organisation that is now insulting the government in their newspapers."

Ahmadinejad, whose culture minister has already denounced a "creeping coup" in the press, did not name the individual or the critical newspapers.

He said this person "had regular meetings with foreigners and even informed them on disagreements (inside Iran) and objected that the adopted resolutions were weak."

Ahmadinejad also criticised another unnamed person who he said "travels to Persian Gulf countries and calls on them not to cooperate with the current government." He did not give further details.

The UN Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend sensitive nuclear work which the West fears could be diverted towards weapons development.

Moderates inside Iran have attacked Ahmadinejad for his handling of Iran's nuclear programme while the reformist press frequently publishes opinion articles critical of his rule.

Iran in May detained former nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian for more than a week on national security-related accusations, saying he leaked information to a foreign embassy. He was released on bail but the case is not closed.

Moussavian is now the deputy head of a research institute led by Hassan Rowhani, who was Iran's top nuclear negotiator under Ahmadinejad's reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami.

The research institute belongs to the Expediency Council, Iran's top political arbitration body headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who was roundly defeated by Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential elections.

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