A university professor close to the Iranian establishment has been summoned by the judiciary after alleging on state television that an Iranian intermediary bought the Hezbollah pagers that exploded last month, Al Jazeera reports.

Masoud Asadollahi, a professor at the IRGC-affiliated Imam Hussein University, made the comments as an “expert” on a state TV programme. He said an unnamed Iranian company bought 5,000 pagers and 3,000 were handed over to Hezbollah without necessary checks because nobody expected them to explode.

He did not cite a source or elaborate on the origin of the other 2,000 devices used in the attacks.

Asadollahi could potentially face charges relating to publishing misinformation to negatively affect public opinion, or even national security offences, according to the official news outlet of the Iranian judiciary. It said he has since admitted he was mistaken.