Financial Tribune - A top environmental official dismissed reports of a disruption in the UN's financial support for the Asiatic cheetah protection program led by Iran's Department of Environment.

"The relationship between the United Nations Development Program and the cheetah conservation initiative has never been cut, despite assumptions to the contrary. In the interval between the second and third phases of the project, funds from the UNDP were used to pay the personnel, organize training activities and conduct research," Hamid Zohrabi, DOE's deputy for natural environment, told ISNA on Friday.