04 October 2004	Monday	18 Shaban 1425

TEHRAN, Oct 3: Iran's hard line parliament dealt a fresh blow to the already isolated reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday by voting unanimously to impeach his transport minister.

Deputies in the Majlis, controlled by a coalition of hard liners and conservatives, accused Ahmad Khorram of corruption and mismanagement, failing to tackle mounting carnage on the nation's transport network and blasted him for awarding an airport operating contract to a foreign consortium.

Of the 258 deputies present in the 290-seat Majlis, 188 voted in favour of sacking the minister, 58 against, and the rest were undecided. Mr Khorram, who took over the portfolio after fellow reformist Rahman Dadman died in a plane crash four years ago, is the first minister in Khatami's embattled government to be ousted by the new parliament.

However, the new conservative speaker of the Majlis, Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, said the move did not mean deputies were embarking on a purge of the moderate executive. The second and final term of Khatami and his government ends in June 2005.

"Whatever the decision of the Majlis, it does not mean that we do not want to work with this government," he said prior to the vote even though several deputies said afterwards that Mr Khorram was only the first of several who could go.

Throughout the day, deputies bombarded Mr Khorram with complaints over mounting road accidents, plane crashes, overspending and mismanagement. Conservative MP Ali Ahmadi complained that in the current Iranian year, which began on March 20, road accidents were already up 24 per cent.

Mr Khorram was also accused of "tarnishing the Islamic Republic of Iran's reputation" after he handed a $200 million airport contract to Turkish-led consortium Tepe-Akfen-Vie.

Tehran's new Imam Khomeini International Airport was shut down in May by the Revolutionary Guards, who said the contract was a threat to national security because the operators were foreign and also had business dealings with arch-enemy Israel.

According to several deputies, Mr Khorram had shown an "unnecessary inclination towards foreign companies". The minister hit back by saying speedy economic progress was impossible without foreign investment. -AFP