DUSHANBE -- The Iranian Fars News Agency has opened a news bureau in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
The Dushanbe staff is made up only of Tajik journalists. Fars Managing Director Hamid Reza Moghaddam-Far told RFE/RL that the agency plans to organize workshops for Tajik journalists in Tajikistan and Iran.
Fars is planning more offices in other Central Asian countries as well as in Afghanistan and southeastern Asia.
Fars is a privately owned news agency, but is considered close to the Iranian judiciary. Founded in 2002, it produces news in Persian, English, Turkish, and Arabic.