TEHRAN, Feb 3: Iran, plagued by a rift between conservatives and reformists, is finding unity in stepping up ties with the EU following US accusations of trying to export terrorism and acquire banned weapons.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as reformist President Mohammad Khatami and conservative stalwart Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani all firmly condemned the “threats” addressed to Iran by US President George W. Bush in his annual State of the Union address last week.

Bush cited Iran as one of three countries, together with Iraq and North Korea, forming an “axis of evil” and accused the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction, implying it might be the next target of Washington’s “war on terror.”

On Sunday, the speaker of Iran’s reformist-dominated parliament, Mehdi Karubi, called for a massive turnout for an anti-US demonstration on February 11 to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Karubi stressed that he wanted even the regime’s opponents to join the demonstration, in a drive to bolster national unity reminiscent of the early years of the Islamic republic after the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war erupted.

This new-found unity emerges paradoxically after months of growing tension and bitter rivalry between Iran’s parliament and conservative-controlled courts and institutions.

Besides the unanimous condemnation of the US, with whom Iran severed diplomatic ties 22 years ago, the country’s leaders also appear to agree on speeding up rapprochement with the EU.—AFP