Tehran, Dec 21, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi has described as 'insulting' US new immigration measures which have led to in widespread detention of Middle Eastern nationals, mostly Iranians, press said Saturday.

Asefi described the measure as 'unacceptable', saying it was not justified by any international standards, the Persian daily Siasat-e Rouz said.

US immigration lawyers have estimated that at least 500 Middle Eastern immigrants, mostly Iranians, have been detained in California since Monday when male visa holders were asked to report to local immigration offices to be fingerprinted and photographed.

"The American government has put violence, threat and pressure on the agenda of its foreign policy. It has taken measures against those Iranians who, in American officials' own words, are among the elite and educated of that country," the paper said quoting Asefi.

"This step of the American government contradicts international conventions on civil rights and Iran's Foreign Ministry regrets it," he added.

Asefi stressed that his ministry maintains its policy of seriously defending rights of Iranian nationals in every part of the globe, Siasat-e Rouz said.

The press Saturday also quoted editors of several Iranian newspapers as having sent a message to their American counterparts, in which they have condemned US officials' 'inappropriate measures' in detaining their countrymen.

Relations between Tehran and Washington have remained tense after the US severed ties with the Islamic Republic when the Students Following the Line of Imam stormed the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Daily denounces Washington's detention of Iranians, Mideastern men

The arrests, by officials of the US Immigration and Naturalization services, come in the wake of decisions by the new Homeland Security Department and US Department of Justice to identify and register individuals born in 20 countries who lack legal documents to reside in the US, targeting Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Sudanese and Syrian nations, noted the editorial.

Washington's indecent action, which in effect complements previous measures of fingerprinting citizens belonging to the stated countries upon their entry in the US, has culminated in inhumane treatment of those arrested.

The individuals have been handcuffed and imprisoned and this treatment has resulted in protests by thousands of Iranians residing in Greater Los Angeles.

Since the regions of Los Angeles and San Diego include a large population of Iranians, most of those arrested are Iranians, noted the paper, adding that those detained are individuals who have entered the US legally.

As legal residents, they are undergoing the process of obtaining their green cards at the Immigration Office and their attorneys are following their cases, there is no reason why such an ugly confrontation should take place, stressed the daily.

"This has occurred while the US Department of Justice is under greater bureaucratic pressure, which US officials themselves admit," it noted.

But the Americans are using the September 11 incident as a vehicle for not wanting to adhere to international human rights conventions, or to various international conventions to which they have been a signatory, it pointed.

President George W. Bush wishes to "free himself" from all conventions and agreements, which is unjustifiable, added the daily.

Therefore, not only Iran, but international organizations and the European Union must pursue what is unfolding in the US with respect to the rights of legal residents, concluded the daily.