TEHRAN, 28 January 2004 — Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has stepped in for the second time to resolve a political impasse ahead of national elections. A top official said yesterday that a solution to a dispute over who can stand in next month’s election was close at hand while many reformists voiced skepticism.
Khamenei’s intervention appeared to pull the country’s rival conservative and reformist camps back from the brink, with embattled President Mohammad Khatami confidently vowing the Feb. 20 elections would go ahead as scheduled.
Parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi told official media that he, the president, judiciary chief Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahrudi and Khamenei met late on Monday to forge a way out of the increasingly bitter stand-off.
“All officials believe that good results will be achieved in the next one or two days. To be more specific, by the end of Thursday,” he told the official news agency IRNA.
He said four ministers, all of whom have so far kept out of the crisis, would now probe reformist complaints that the barring of candidates by hard-liners would result in no competition in some constituencies.
Karroubi said Intelligence Minister Ali Yunessi, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari and Industry Minister Eshaq Jahangiri had been given until the end of Thursday to complete their task.
The parliament speaker said he and the president had also met Ahmad Janati, a hard-liner who heads the Guardian Council.
IRNA said 700 candidates who were among thousands barred from standing in the elections have had their candidacies reinstated.
