The arrest came after the agency published a video showing a couple signing over their home to a small white dog named Chester, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Police launched an investigation after the release of the video, in which the couple was described as wanting to sell the flat to their dog as they had no heirs.

A deputy prosecutor general was quoted in local media as saying the sale of a property to a dog has “no legal basis”.

The agency was accused of seeking to “normalise the violation of the society’s moral values” and has reportedly been closed.

Dogs are relatively rare as pets in Iran, where Islamic teaching categorises them as ‘unclean’.