Iran said it plans to launch a crackdown on rap music, complaining that the words used by rap artists were "obscene", the state IRNA news agency reported Thursday.

"There is nothing wrong with this type of music in itself," the official for evaluation of music at the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, Mohammad Dashtgoli, was quoted as saying.

"But due to the use of obscene words by its singers this music has been categorised as illegal," he said. "In coordination with the police, illegal studios producing this type of music will be sealed and the singers in this genre will be confronted," he said.