Tehran, Aug 27 (IANS): Iranian photojournalist Mohammad-Hossein Velayati, who was detained last week in Afghanistan, has been released, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, which Velayati works for, reported.

The journalist was handed over to the Iranian embassy in Kabul on Friday night, the report said on Saturday, adding that the release was confirmed by Bilal Karimi, a spokesman of the Taliban administration, but the reporter has yet to be transferred to Iran.

Tasnim on Tuesday reported that "Taliban forces" arrested Velayati at the end of his 10-day personal trip to Afghanistan on August 19 without any explanation, as he was returning to Iran, stressing that he had entered Afghanistan legally through the air border, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a post on X, previously known as Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday night that intensive diplomatic efforts were being made to return Velayati to Iran.