An Iranian-British national and an Iranian who works for the British Council who traveled to Iran on a private trip to visit family have been detained in Iran.

The British Foreign Office told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it was "urgently seeking information from the Iranian authorities" after being asked about the detention of Iranian-British national Mahan Abdein.

Separately, the British Council said in a statement it was aware of the detention of a staffer following the arrest of Iranian national Aras Amiri.

The council said: "Despite an assertion that this individual has travelled to Iran for work this is not the case."

The news website IranWire, created by Iranian-Canadian journalist and one-time Iran detainee Maziar Bahari, first reported the two detentions.

Iranian officials have not acknowledged the arrests.