Khatami revives Iran's ailing reformist camp

AP – The battered reformist movement was energized with hopes of a political comeback Monday after their most powerful advocate, Mohammad Khatami, entered the race for president, a match up one liberal Web site predicted would be "an Armageddon between reformists and hardliners."

Khatami, who was president from 1997-2005 and previously expressed reluctance to run again, is seen by many reformists as their white knight, the only candidate with a real chance of beating hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Supporters see the cleric, whose calls for better ties with the West provides a stark contrast to Ahmadinejad's tough rhetoric, as warming U.S.-Iranian ties, even opening a dialogue with Barack Obama.

But Khatami, who announced his candidacy Sunday, faces a tough campaign. Reformists are divided, and the ruling religious establishment backs the current president.

Ahmadinejad is believed to be vulnerable in the June elections because of public anger over issues including fuel shortages, inflation and his confrontational stances toward the West. But few saw any candidate with the stature to defeat him.

A match-up between him and Khatami, however, transforms the race into a real competition. One reformist Web site, Asr-e Iran, said Khatami's entrance could "polarize" the campaign and turn it into "an Armageddon between reformists and hard-liners."

Supporters believe the charismatic Khatami can turn around the disillusionment that has dragged down the movement for years. In recent years, many pro-reform voters have stayed away from the polls because of hard-liners' powers to bar their candidates from running.

In their heyday in the late 1990s, reformists swept to power, seizing the presidency and parliament. They promised better relations with the West and the easing of the Islamic republic's tight social and political restrictions, and the young and women turned out in droves to hand them electoral landslides.

But even before Khatami's two terms ended, the movement was largely crushed by ruling hard-line clerics, who stand above elected posts like the presidency and parliament. Reformists were able to loosen some strictures on women's dress, but hard-liners thwarted deeper political change.

Clerical bodies controlled by hard-liners have the power under Iranian law to throw out laws passed by parliament and bar election candidates seen as not suitable for the country's Islamic revolution.

Those powers later cost reformists control of parliament after many of their lawmakers were barred from running for re-election. Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, when term limits removed Khatami from the race. The law allows Khatami to run again, and he is considered too prominent for clerical bodies to bar his candidature.

"Khatami is a famous figure. All the people know him, and they know about the results of Ahmadinejad's administration," said one of Khatami's close allies, Mostafa Tajzadeh, suggesting reasons the former president will win.

Some supporters see Khatami as more likely to respond to the new American president's attempts to repair the bitter U.S.-Iran rivalry. Obama has said he wants to open a dialogue with Iran over its controversial nuclear program and other disputes.

"These two are able to make better relations. Both of them are men of dialogue," said Shahnaz Mahboubi, a 32-year-old nurse in Tehran.

Younis Shojai, a retired government worker, said he would vote for Khatami. "He may be our last chance to end 30 years of hostility between Iran and the United States. Both sides should forget the past to achieve that."

Ahmadinejad's press adviser confirmed last week that the hard-line president will seek re-election, although Ahmadinejad has not made a formal announcement.

He has faced criticism even from many conservatives over his handling of the economy and his harsh anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. rhetoric, which even some former allies say have worsened Iran's isolation. And he may face a challenge from within the conservative movement, possibly by powerful politician Ali Larijani.

But Ahmadinejad has support from hard-liners and, most importantly, from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate political authority. Khamenei has praised the president for standing up to the West and restoring "Islamic values" in Iran, and urged him to run for re-election.

Moreover, Ahmadinejad has populist appeal. His government has handed out millions in direct support to the poor, despite criticism that the spending has undermined the economy.

Khatami has a patrician style in his clean, well-pressed clerical robes and a warm, smiling demeanor, but some see him as part of a distant elite. Ahmadinejad has a more down to earth, man-of-the-people look. Often wearing informal windbreakers, Ahmadinejad makes frequent tours of the provinces to keep in touch with the public. And while seen as fearsome in the West, Ahmadinejad delivers even his toughest rhetoric with a soft, smiling manner.

Conservative political analyst Emad Afrough said Khatami's candidacy transforms the race, but will also energize hard-liners. "It will motivate many people to come to the polls, while also making his opponents more active," he said.

The pro-hard-line newspaper Keyhan said a Khatami victory was far from assured, pointing to doubts over his popular support.

Also, this is no longer the Iran of the 1990s, when the young were charged up with optimism for reform. Now many criticize Khatami, saying he was too weak and failed to stand up to hard-liners while president.

Reza Shokri, once a pro-reform student in early 2000s, said he has little hope in Khatami now, "since he easily pulled back from his positions on improving freedoms during his time in office, when he had millions of votes."

Another former supporter to Khatami, Borzou Razeqi, said, "Khatami once said a president has no power in Iran. I don't understand why he decided to run for a useless position again."

The reformist vote could be divided among several candidates. Moderate cleric Mehdi Karrubi, 71, has said he will run, though he is considered a long shot. Also reported to be preparing to run is Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former hard-liner turned reformist.

A close Khatami ally, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, wrote in his personal Web site that a Khatami victory should "not be very hard — young people, who are thinking about a better future, would guarantee victory."

But he warned that if reformists fail to unify and miss the opportunty, "they will have no answer before history and Iran's future."

Finally, Reformist Mohammad Khatami declares bid for Iran presidency!!!

Former President Mohammad Khatami, who pushed for détente with the West when in office from 1997 to 2005, said Sunday that he would run in Iran's presidential election in June.

"I strongly announce my candidacy in the elections," Khatami told reporters after he held talks with an association of moderate clerics.

"I never had doubt. Is it possible to remain indifferent toward the revolution's fate and shy away from running in the elections?" he asked.

"I consider this as a right to run ... This candidacy doesn't deprive others and the path is open. What should be stressed is that the elections must be held freely."

Khatami, 65, was president of Iran between 1997 and 2005.

He was succeeded by President Ahmadinejad, a hardliner who is set to stand again and has reportedly received the blessing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khatami said it was important "to think about the fate of the nation and its long-time desire to be proud, free and to progress and reach justice."

"I hope I can take steps to remove the people's problems and also enhance their position in the world."

The announcement set up a choice for voters between Khatami and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose first four-year term has seen a sharp deterioration in ties with the West as tensions over Iran's nuclear work have mounted.

The election is being keenly watched abroad because President Barack Obama has offered a new U.S. approach to engage Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, saying he would extend a hand of peace if Tehran would "unclench its fist."

Some analysts say Washington may wait until the June result before spelling out any offer in detail. Iran, meanwhile, has set tough conditions for opening any dialogue, a move seen as a bid to buy time in part because of the election.

The foes have not had diplomatic ties since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The vote will not determine policy in the Islamic Republic, whose supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the final say. But the president can influence how Iran acts as Khamenei tends to look for consensus among the political elite, analysts say.

"People feel the need for change because of Ahmadinejad's foreign policy and economic policies," said Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a vice president under Khatami and a close political ally. "Therefore we think people will vote for Khatami, for change. With Khatami running, the election will be polarized."

Ahmadinejad has faced mounting criticism over his economic management and surging inflation, which climbed to almost 30 percent last year. Reformists, in particular, say his fiery foreign policy speeches have further isolated Iran.

The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge that Tehran denies, insisting that its aim is to generate electricity. But Iran's failure to convince world powers about its intentions has led to three rounds of United Nations sanctions.

Khatami worked for détente abroad and for political and social change at home while president. But hard-liners in charge of major levers of power in the Islamic Republic blocked many of his reforms, costing Khatami some key supporters.

Ahmadinejad, who an aide said in January would run again, came to office pledging a fairer distribution of Iran's oil wealth and a return to Islamic revolutionary values.

BBC Profile: Mohammad Khatami

Iran's Islamic Revolution at 30

By Daniel Brumberg

I...do not accept Islamic human rights. If we accept that the Muslims can write an Islamic human rights declaration...from now on, we will see Buddhist human rights declarations...Jewish human rights declarations and so on and so forth...And if the standards are abolished... the weaker people...will be the ones who will suffer.
-- Shirin Ebadi, Iranian Human Rights Activist and Nobel Laureate

As the 30th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution approaches, it is refreshing to hear Shirin Ebadi declare that she does "not accept Islamic human rights." The problem is not merely that a cultural or religious definition of human rights can easily turn into a prescription for autocracy. The more fundamental problem is who gets to wield the ax of cultural interpretation? Mrs. Ebadi knows the answer: those who are in power, those who control the state. That is why "the weaker people" suffer. They suffer the misfortune of having their rights usurped the moment a class of religious leaders reserves for itself the right to say what it means to be a Muslim, Jew, Christian or Buddhist.

But what if that right is won through election? Ebadi knows the answer to this question as well: "The Islamic Revolution came to power with the vote of the people," she notes. But "a government that has won on the basis of the vote of the majority cannot do as it pleases. (It)...does not have the right to deprive women...of their basic rights."

Many Iranians would agree with this proposition, including Iran's former president, Mohammed Khatami. As I wrote in Reinventing Khomeini: The Struggle for Reform in Iran, Khatami and his colleagues in the reform movement constituted a key wing of the Islamic Republic's original ruling family. These Islamic Leftists borrowed from Europe's revolutionary ideologies to argue for a notion of democracy that was hostile to all notions of pluralism. But after being persecuted by the very state they had helped to create, they began to rethink their original notion of democracy--as well as Islam.

Khatami's successor, President Ahmadinejad, embraced the populist myth of a unified, "people" a way to repress advocates of freedom, starting with Khatami's own allies. But such repression - accompanied by massive economic incompetence -- has further alienated Iran's youth.

How much disillusionment can a post-revolutionary state endure? A lot. However estranged, most Iranians would probably agree with Ebadi, who argues that political reform can only come through--rather than against--the institutions and ideologies of the Islamic Republic. The revolution is thirty years young. No savior can substitute for the long, hard struggle to redefine Iran's multi-faceted revolutionary heritage.

Khatami, who will probably run in Iran's June presidential election, knows that his followers (former and present) are not looking for a hero. Yet he must find a way to inspire them while at the same time defining a realistic political project that will entail difficult compromises. This is a formidable challenge, to say the least.

Ahmadinejad Predecessor Planning Presidential Bid

By Thomas Erdbrink -  Washington Post

Former president Mohammad Khatami, who for two terms led failed attempts to give Iranians more legal freedoms and end Iran's international isolation, has decided to run in upcoming elections, aides, political allies and family members said Tuesday.

The move will pit Khatami against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an electoral battle whose outcome could alter the country's domestic and foreign agendas.

"He has agreed to become a candidate," Mohammad Reza Khatami, the former president's younger brother, told The Washington Post. "He sees the difficulties ahead, but the pressure from several groups for him to run was too big for him to decline."

Mohammad Atrianfar, an official during Khatami's 1997-2005 tenure, said Tuesday that Khatami would announce his candidacy "in the coming week."

While President Obama has promised "direct, tough diplomacy" with Iran, several analysts have suggested the administration wait until after the elections, set for June 12.

"This will be a full-fledged confrontation between totalitarians and reformists," Atrianfar said of the political strains represented by Ahmadinejad and Khatami. He said the matchup would lead to the "most interesting and sensitive elections of the past three decades."

Khatami, a mid-level cleric, was the surprise winner of the 1997 elections. After a grass-roots campaign that took him by bus through the country, he was swept into office largely on the strength of votes from young people and women.

His victory widened a rift between the judiciary, the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps and the appointed clerical councils on the one hand and parliament and the government on the other.

The factions were divided on the question of whether to alter the Islamic system or stick with the status quo. As the debate played out, political newspapers were founded and closed, students demonstrated, and dozens of activists, politicians and journalists were arrested. The polarization ended when Ahmadinejad's election in 2005 sealed a gradual political takeover by groups opposing change.

Ahmadinejad's supporters have intensified their political attacks on Khatami, who currently heads the Tehran-based International Institute for Dialogue Among Cultures and Civilizations and is often invited to give speeches abroad. On Sunday, lawmaker and Ahmadinejad ally Hamid Rasaee gave a speech in which he called Khatami a hypocrite, almost triggering a fistfight.

"They are very, very worried, because now that Khatami is running, their chances of winning the election have diminished," Mostafa Hadji, minister of education under Khatami, said of Ahmadinejad's supporters.

The Iranian news media have speculated for months on the likelihood of a Khatami candidacy. According to his aides, Khatami had been hoping that Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister he holds in high regard, would represent his faction. They suggested that he could still withdraw from the race if Mousavi changed his mind.

While there are no independent opinion polls in Iran, Ahmadinejad can probably count on support in rural areas, which he and his cabinet visited regularly and where he initiated job-creation projects.

Many of Iran's 44 million eligible voters also appear to identify more with Ahmadinejad, with his down-to-earth rhetoric and modest dress, than with Khatami and his string of foreign honorary doctorates.

"It is too soon too predict the outcome," said Amir Mohebbian, a political strategist. But he added: "If Khatami wins, we could see profound changes in Iran's foreign and domestic policies. If Ahmadinejad gets the most votes, things will stay the same."

Khatami Poses Strongest Challenge to Ahmadinejad

NPR Reports: In June, Iranian voters go to the polls to choose their next president. The election will almost certainly become a referendum on the controversial economic and foreign policies of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But it also may determine whether Iran sees a comeback for reformist politics and the return of Mohammad Khatami, the once-popular president who preceded Ahmadinejad.

The outcome of the presidential election is anything but certain. That's the view of many ordinary citizens in Iran and many of the analysts and activists watching the maneuvering of various candidates that is even now under way.

Ibrahim Yazdi, a longtime reformist politician in Iran, was Iran's foreign minister for a short period after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"There are many serious objections to the deeds of Ahmadinejad, even among the very fundamental conservatives who are backing him," Yazdi says. "Therefore, his future is a little bit shaky."

And for Yazdi, along with many in the reformist camp, the big question is whether former President Khatami runs again.

Khatami Poses Strongest Challenge

Khatami was the popular reformer who was president from 1997 to 2005. His presidency galvanized the movement for political reform in Iran, but he was frequently stymied by the conservative clerical institutions that hold great power in Iran.

When Khatami left office, he left behind a strong feeling of disappointment and disillusionment, and the reform movement has been wounded and weak since then.

Now, says editor Issa Saharkhiz, four years of Ahmadinejad have convinced the highly splintered reform movement to coalesce around anyone who could defeat the conservative president.

"Most of the people and most of the reformists are pragmatists. The best situation for Iran is putting away Mr. Ahmadinejad," Saharkhiz says.

Most reformers agree that the candidate who stands the best chance of doing that is former President Khatami.

Khatami is seriously considering joining the race. He meets nearly every day with advisers to discuss the pros and cons. He is known to believe that Ahmadinejad's economic and foreign policies have been bad for the country. He believes Iran had more respect internationally during his administration.

It is widely believed that Khatami would pose a serious challenge to Ahmadinejad and, says Saharkhiz, that has caused concern among top clerics, including Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There is a great deal of pressure on Khatami from the highest levels in the country, says Saharkhiz.

There is also the question of whether Khatami would even be permitted to run. The Guardian Council, dominated by conservative jurists and religious figures, has the final say over who can run for office, and has often disqualified reformist candidates.

Those who know Khatami say he believes the council wouldn't dare disqualify him.

Ahmadinejad Hurt By Economic Policies

Still, the mood of the voters is hard to read. Reliable polling is not available, so there are just educated guesses, often tainted by wishful thinking. One big issue is city vs. village in Iran — city voters being better educated and tending toward the liberal side; village voters more conservative.

Mohammed Atrianfar, a reform journalist, believes that the chaotic economic policies of Ahmadinejad, which have pushed inflation above 25 percent and seen unemployment grow, have cost him much support.

"Even in the suburbs and in the villages and in the poor areas, he had a lot of supporters. We think that he has lost a lot of them," Atrianfar says.

Conservative Vote Could Be Splintered

It's not just the reformers who see Ahmadinejad's vulnerability. Many conservatives have come to be critical of the controversial Iranian president.

Iran's presidential election has two rounds. There could be as many as half a dozen or more candidates in the first round. The top two vote-getters advance to the second round. If the top two include Ahmadinejad and another conservative, Ahmadinejad will have trouble, says conservative analyst Amir Mohebian.

He notes that the rival would receive the votes of conservatives disgruntled with Ahmadinejad, as well as those of reformists, who oppose the current president.

So, the political dynamic in Iran is in flux and could take a dramatic and unexpected turn when Iranians go to the polls June 12.

Khatami gives Mousavi 10-day ultimatum

Press TV: Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami gives ex-premier Mir-Hussein Mousavi a ten-day ultimatum to decide on his bid for presidency.

Khatami, who is favored among the Reformists, told Mousavi that he had to make up his mind by February 10, saying that time was running out for the party to announce its main candidate, IRNA quoted sources close to Mousavi as saying on Sunday.

The former president argued that Mousavi’s request for a month’s time would give the rival parties a head start.

Reformists have been trying to persuade Khatami into running for president in the June elections, hoping to defeat the incumbent Principlist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by playing their strongest card.

Khatami won a landslide victory in the 1997 presidential elections by capturing almost 70% of the ballot. After serving two terms as president, the Reformist was succeeded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Under Iran’s constitution a president cannot run for a third consecutive term.

Although Khatami has not ruled out the possibility of another presidential bid, he has said that he would rather see Mousavi running for the post.

Mousavi is well-known for his handling of the country’s affairs during the 1980-1988 Iraqi imposed war on Iran. He served as prime minister from 1981 to 1988 under the then-president Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

However, many Principlists share the idea that Mousavi’s possible run for presidency is not in the best interest of the country.

Principlist lawmaker Moussa Qorbani had earlier discussed the former premier’s possible bid saying that “it is not in the interest of Islam, nor is it in the interest of Muslims; it is not in anybody’s interest at all that a Reformist runs for president.”

He further referred to Khatami’s term in office as ‘unsuccessful’ and ‘a dark chapter in Iran’s history’, saying the Reformists tend to nationalize the economy while the interest of the country lies in privatized economy.

“Although I have not announced my candidacy so far, some have taken action against me and they are continuing do so right now,” Khatami said according to informed sources.

Khatami says if he decides to run, the Reformist camp should introduce three reserve candidates to replace him, in the event that he would withdraw from the race midway through the campaign.

According to Khatami, Mousavi is a potential Reformist reserve candidate, along with former head of the Budget and Planning Organization, Mohammad Ali Najafi, and former First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Aref.

Sources say that Khatami will officially register his own candidacy a week after February 10, should Mousavi fail to meet the deadline.

Mohammad Khatami to mount reformist challenge

FT.com reports: Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s former reformist president, is expected to announce that he will contest the presidential elections in June, as pressure intensifies on him to unseat the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad.

Leading reformist politicians told the Financial Times that Mr Khatami was likely to confirm his candidacy in the coming days, after apparently failing to persuade Mir-Hossein Moussavi, a former prime minister he holds in high regard, to represent the reformists.

“All evidence suggests that he is running,” said Mostafa Tajzadeh, the policy strategist of the largest reformist party.

“He’s closer to running than ever before,” said Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, a senior aide to Mr Khatami during his two terms as president, from 1997 to 2005.

Mr Khatami, however, could still reconsider if Mr Moussavi, a politician who is seen as honest and a capable manager, has a last minute change of heart.

At a Saturday meeting with visitors from the holy city of Qom, Mr Khatami said he would prefer Mr Moussavi to be the main reformist candidate but that the former premier needed to make up his mind quickly.

A second reformist leader – cleric Mehdi Karroubi – has announced his candidacy but Khatami aides are hoping that he would withdraw should their man enter the contest.

Although the president has limited powers in Iran’s Islamic republic – authority lies in the hands of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader – reformist politicians say a new, more moderate face could have a huge impact on domestic policy and would improve the chances of a dialogue with the US, now that the new administration of Barack Obama is looking for engagement.

“If it is Khatami versus Ahmadi-Nejad, this will be the most interesting election in the world and in the region, after the US election,” said Mr Tajzadeh.

Mr Khatami, a mid-ranking cleric who prefers dialogue to confrontation, has been reluctant to seek a return to the presidency.

His experience as president when hardliners in the regime systematically blocked his reforms, left him frustrated. Many of his followers were also left disillusioned.

But people close to Mr Khatami say he is the only candidate capable of defeating the populist Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, who although he has yet to declare his candidacy officially is expected to seek re-election and restart efforts to restore Iran’s image in the world.

Reformists believe Mr Ahmadi-Nejad has wrecked Iran’s economy and destroyed its international image.

While they are equally attached to the country’s nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes, they insist they could address western concerns over it more successfully.

Ayatollah Khamenei has strongly backed the sitting president, and largely supported his confrontational foreign policy, leading many analysts and diplomats to assume that Mr Ahmadi-Nejad is assured of re-election. But people close to Mr Khatami say the supreme leader has told him that he would not interfere in the election.

There are no public polls in Iran to gauge the mood. But analysts say that despite mounting economic problems, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad can still count on public support, particularly in rural areas that have benefited from generous financial hand-outs. They warn that it is far from clear the election will be free and fair.

Reformists, however, insist that confidential polls taken by bodies within the regime suggest Mr Khatami is far ahead of Mr Ahmadi-Nejad.

Coordinated Attacks against Khatami by Conservatives

Rooz online reports: With the possibility of Khatami's candidacy in the upcoming presidential election increasing, ‎individuals and media outlets aligned with the Ahmadinejad Administration unleashed a ‎coordinated wave of attacks and accusations against the reform era president. ‎

In the latest such attacks, Hamid Rasaei, a ninth administration insider, blasted Khatami in a ‎speech while Ahmadinejad's supporter Mohammad Reza Bahonar presided over the Majlis. ‎Meanwhile, Kayhan, Resalat and Iran newspapers and the Fars News Agency published similar ‎articles intensifying their attacks on Khatami.‎

Noting Mohammad Khatami's recent criticisms of the ninth administration's performance, Rasaei ‎referred to the reform era as the era of "anti-religion stances" and used the Majlis floor to address ‎Khatami: "Have you forgotten that the result of your so-called freedom was for reformist ‎newspapers to refer to 'martyrdom attacks' as 'suicide attacks'?"‎

In another part of his speech Rasaei accused Khatami and the reformists of enmity with the ‎Supreme Leader, adding, "Which people were seeking to eliminate the Supreme Leader during ‎your tenure?" This lawmaker addressed Khatami, "Do you not know which individuals and ‎parties in Iran were repeatedly supported by George W. Bush?"‎

Claiming that the former president had created a safe haven for critics and opponents of the ‎Islamic Republic in his administration, Rasaei accused the former president of not supporting ‎Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah. ‎

A number of lawmakers reacted strongly to Rasaei's remarks and accused him of "insulting ‎Khatami." ‎

Accusations Repeated by Right-Wing Papers

One hour prior to Rasaei's speech, a top conservative official Morteza Nabavi accused Khatami ‎during an interview with the state-run IRNA news agency of being opposed to suppressing ‎student demonstrations in July 1999 in Tehran. Nabavi claimed that during National Security ‎Council meetings held at the time Khatami opposed the involvement of the Basij in suppressing ‎student demonstrators. ‎

Meanwhile, three newspapers aligned with the administration - Kayhan, Resalat and Iran - ‎published articles in their Monday, 14 Bahman issues blasting Khatami and Mousavi, using ‎similar titles such as "Khatami and Mir Hossein Mousavi's game," starting a new round of ‎character attacks on Khatami and Mir Hossein Mousavi. ‎

The Supreme Leader's representative at the Kayhan Foudnation, Hossein Shariatmadari, harshly ‎attacked Khatami in the daily's main editorial and, like Rasaei, asked him, "Mr. Khatami, were ‎slogans not shouted against the Basij during your administration? Was it not said that the culture ‎of martyrdom is violent? Did newspapers not write that Imam Khomeini's ideas must be put in ‎museums?! Was it not claimed that Islam belongs to 1400 years ago and is not appropriate for ‎governance today?" ‎

In a similar move, Resalat daily attacked potential presidential candidates Khatami and Mir ‎Hossein Mousavi in its main editorial, while the political arm of the Islamic Revolution ‎Passdaran Guards Corp (IRGC) distributed pamphlets among its activists containing analyses ‎and reports related to the election and current political affairs. ‎

The IRGC's pamphlets state that "An agreement among Principalists over Ahmadinejad's ‎candidacy in the upcoming election is near" and call on activists to intensify their efforts against ‎the reformists by focusing on "problems concerning the unity of the reformist camp."