After two days of violent demonstrations, the situation in the largely Arab Iranian southern city of Ahwaz was back to normal yesterday. The situation in the city was chaotic after a "fabricated" letter calling for a decrease in its Arab population was circulated, Iranian journalists said. "Practically, the (tense) situation is almost over," said Musaib Al Nueimi, Editor-in-Chief of Al Wefaq newspaper in the Iranian capital. "However, its aftermath is still there," he added in a telephone interview with Gulf News from Tehran.In reference to the violent demonstrations that hit the oil-rich area near the Iraqi border, Al Nueimi added the timing of the development "is not in the interest of the region. Secondly, there are many Arabs based in the Khuzestan who had no role whatsoever in the riots." But, according to Al Nueimi, what makes the issue suspicious and shows it was a "conspiracy" is the way it erupted and ended, as well as the fact that the "letter which was distributed in the city from the Presidential office carried a name of an official who left his post some two years earlier," he said. The violence was sparked after a copy of a letter allegedly signed by former Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi was circulated in Ahvaz and other cities in Khuzestan. The letter describes a plan to relocate non-Arabs to the city to make them the majority population. Violence erupted on Friday after hundreds of Arab residents of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province, gathered to chant slogans against an alleged government plan to move more non-Arabs into the city. However, Abtahi denied writing such a letter.