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TEHRAN, Jan 12: Angry Iranian reformists accused hardline foes on Monday of threatening the country's future and more MPs joined a protest sit-in after thousands of liberals were barred from standing in elections next month.
But senior officials said a compromise was possible over the bans by the conservative Guardian Council, an unelected constitutional watchdog. Reformist President Mohammad Khatami said the bans laid Iran open to foreign charges of tyranny.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, said he would only intervene if the conservatives and reformists reached an impasse.
"If the issue goes beyond legal methods and gets to a sensitive point which demands the leader's decision, we will act based on our responsibility," he said on state radio.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, visiting Tehran, criticised the vetoes, saying they would be difficult to explain within the EU.Iran's reformists are fighting for political survival after the unelected 12-member Council blocked thousands of Khatami's allies from running in the February 20 parliamentary polls.
"(The conservatives) are paving the way for enemies who want to show the Islamic Republic is a despotic state," said a statement from Khatami's League of Combatant Clerics, carried by the official IRNA news agency.
"Those who claim to be defending the Islamic system but ignore the vital role of the people... are threatening the Islamic Republic of Iran."
STRIKING A DEAL: At the parliament building in central Tehran, MPs continued a sit-in, having spent the night on carpets in an ante-room. Senior MPs and provincial governors have threatened to resign if the Council does not reverse its mass disqualifications.
About 100 MPs were believed to be involved in the protest. Khatami and Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi are taking the case direct to the Guardian Council. Karroubi said he thought a deal could be struck and urged MPs to trust in the law.
"Be careful not to foment tension," he warned them. But Iran's leading dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri condemned the Guardian Council which he played a role in creating when he helped draft the constitution.
"I am really sad when I see this Guardian Council has been transformed into a body that violates the nation's rights and disqualifies these people," he said in a letter to a meeting of the biggest reform party. Mohammad Rezai, a wheelchair-bound veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, was among those barred from standing in the election.-Reuters
