TEHRAN, Oct 13: The man Iran's embattled reformist movement had hoped would be the Islamic republic's next president, former prime minister Mir Hossein Moussavi, has rejected calls for him to stand in next June's elections , according to a senior official.

A top reformist official said Mr Moussavi put an end to weeks of lobbying by his pro-reform backers - including incumbent President Mohammad Khatami - by stating he had no wish to return to the political fray, the official news agency IRNA reported on late Tuesday.

"Unfortunately Mir Hossein Moussavi, the prime minister from the glorious Khomeini era, has refused to be a candidate in the presidential elections," said Mehdi Karoubi, the former reformist parliament speaker.

No explanation was given. With Mr Khatami's second and final term in office due to come to an end in June 2005, the reformist movement had been rallying behind Mr Moussavi as the best hope of dragging it out of a political wilderness.

Reformists are badly isolated after most of their candidates were barred from contesting February's parliament elections. Conservatives and hardliners now control most public positions except for the executive.

Moussavi, who is 63, has been labelled as their potential saviour - not least because his political credentials mean he would be a hard man to blacklist. He was also seen as a figure who could support from many conservatives.

He served in the now-defunct post of prime minister from 1981 to 1989, and during that period enjoyed almost constant support from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. -AFP