Iran's reformers threaten to resign from cabinet in row over banned candidates

The political crisis in Iran deepened yesterday as members of the reformist government threatened to resign unless thousands of its candidates are reinstated in next month's parliamentary elections.

Press reports said yesterday that as many as 12 members of the cabinet could step down unless there is a resolution to the growing pre-election crisis.

Most of the country's regional governors said on Monday that they would also resign if the disqualified candidates were not allowed to run. And the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the main reformist party, has said it might boycott the poll, as a parliamentary sit-in reached its second day.

The moves are being made in response to the decision by the Guardian Council, a conservative body made up of 12 unelected Islamic jurists, to bar more than half of the prospective reformist deputies from contesting the elections. More than 80 sitting MPs, among them deputy speakers, were disqualified by the council, whose powers to veto legislation and election candidates have often been challenged by President Mohammad Khatami's government.

But there is little likelihood of a swift resolution to the crisis. Barred candidates were given 24 hours to register their complaints against the decision and the Guardian Council now has almost three weeks to reconsider its position. Even if it upholds all of the disqualifications, candidates can still turn to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, who said on Monday that he would intervene only when all the legal channels to settle the dispute had been exhausted. But he also hinted that he would be forced to adjudicate. He said: "The two sides say they have respected the law. We cannot accept what they have said just like that. The government says one thing and the Guardian Council says another."

Mr Khatami has appealed for calm and said that he would challenge the decisions by every means possible. Many young Iranians, who believe that the reformists have failed to fulfil their promises, want to see their erstwhile hero take a final stand against the conservative council.

But friends of the President said that he was unlikely to abandon the softer approach. Mohammed Fazel Maybodi, a close political ally of Mr Khatami and his friend since his student days, said: "Personally, he is not much in favour of conflict and does not want to intensify confrontation."

In this, his hopes may be confounded. If the situation escalates, then the calls for him to resign or take other hard action will increase.