TEHRAN, April 8: Iran’s pro-reform parliament on Tuesday approved a bill which would give President Mohammad Khatami greater authority over his conservative rivals, parliamentarians said.

But the proposed legislation, which is chiefly aimed at curbing the power of Iran’s hardline judiciary, will now be sent to a conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which is expected to prevent it from becoming law.

The Guardian Council, which has the power to block legislation it deems unconstitutional or contrary to Shariat, last week rejected another bill sent by the president to remove the Council’s right to veto election candidates.

“We know that the conservatives will not approve this bill, like they did not approve the other one,” a reformist parliamentarian said.

Rejection of the second bill could set up a major political showdown between the reformist and conservative camps.

Some reformists have called for a national referendum to be held to decide on the fate of the two bills.

Others have said President Khatami should make good a threat made last year to resign if conservatives continued to block his efforts to deliver greater democracy and social freedoms.

But analysts said Khatami, who was elected on a tide of public support in 1997 and 2001 and still has two years of his current term left to run, may be reluctant to trigger unrest when two of Iran’s arch foes, Iraq and the United States, are involved in a war next door.

“Khatami will not resign because of the Iraq war. The enemy is at the door and he knows that his resignation could cause unrest in the country,” Hamid Aresteh, a political science professor at Tehran University, said.

Iran’s reformist movement is undergoing a period of soul searching following a crushing defeat in local council elections in February as Iranians, disillusioned with the slow pace of reform, stayed away from the polls in droves.

The hardline judiciary and conservative-controlled oversight bodies have been a major thorn in the side of reform efforts. Scores of liberal publications have been banned, dozens of reformist activists jailed and many government-sponsored reform bills blocked.

The proposed legislation approved by parliament on Tuesday would enable the president to have judiciary officials removed from office or suspend court rulings if he deemed them to have violated the constitution.—Reuters