Tehran- Iran's interior minister admitted that the honorary doctorate from Oxford University that he presented to parliament was a fake, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

In a letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Interior Minister Ali Kordan confirmed the certificate was a fake but claimed that he was victim of a swindle by a man who allegedly posed as a representative of the British university in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad last month ordered Kordan's doctorate to be verified and the minister himself reportedly took a lawyer to follow up the case in Oxford.

Presentation of false documents, especially in government service, is a crime punishable by a prison sentence in Iran.

It was unclear Tuesday whether Kordan would keep his job or be dismissed by the president. (dpa)