Singer Joss Stone deported from Iran, bid to play in every country thwarted

LONDON - A personal record attempt by singer Joss Stone has hit a sour note.

The Briton said she was "gutted" after she was deported from Iran ahead of the latest leg of a world tour that has already taken her to Syria and North Korea.

She was held shortly after arriving at Kish airport, according to a post on her Instagram account, as authorities suspected she was planning to play a public gig.

Women have been banned from singing solo in public in Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

"We were aware there couldn't be a public concert as I am a woman and that is illegal in this country," she wrote, without specifying where or how she hoped to play.

"So close yet so far, this moment broke a little piece of my heart."

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The gig in Kish would have been the 200th of the Total World Tour - a project to perform in every country on Earth - which she embarked on five years ago.

Despite being turned away, she described the Iranian immigration officials as "genuinely nice kind people who felt bad that they couldn't override the system" and that they had refused her entry "with a heavy heart".