An influential pro-reform ex-president of Iran has denounced the country's first trial of activists and protesters following the disputed presidential election as a sham.

A HARDLINE Iranian cleric called yesterday for the execution of leading “rioters” to teach a lesson to the thousands who have protested against the June 12 presidential election result.

FORMER Iranian president Mohammed Khatami said he may pull out of June’s presidential race to avoid splitting the vote if another reformist candidate can pose a stronger challenge to the country’s hard-line establishment.

Iran’s former reformist president said today that he will challenge hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the country’s upcoming presidential elections.

An Iranian court acquitted a former nuclear negotiator of spying charges today but convicted him of acting against the Islamic government.

AN Iranian cleric said yesterday that the religious edict calling for the killing of Salman Rushdie cannot be revoked, and he warned Britain was defying the Islamic world by granting the author knighthood.

A high-level Iranian hard-line cleric today said the religious edict calling for the killing of Salman Rushdie remained in place and can not be revoked.

THE former president of Iran flew into a political storm yesterday, as he arrived at a British university to be awarded an honorary degree.

Iranians today stuck by their refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for talks on its nuclear programme despite Western insistence that Tehran commit to the step as demanded by the UN Security Council.

IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Hezbollah has “hoisted the banner of victory” over Israel and toppled US-led plans for the Middle East.

An Iranian hardline cleric has warned Israel that Iran’s 1,250-mile missiles will land in Tel Aviv if the Jewish state attacks Iran, state-run television reported.

Western-style free speech that allowed the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in Europe will lead to more violence between Muslims and Westerners, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami warned today.

Iran’s new president today nominated a Cabinet that featured hard-liners in key ministries and is likely to lead to more confrontation in the country’s dispute with the West over its nuclear program.

Iran is to restart some nuclear activities, outgoing President Mohammad Khatami said today.

Iranians packed polling stations today in a presidential race too close to call between a well-known political moderate and his hardline rival seeking to reclaim the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

IRANIANS went to the polls yesterday in a high-stakes election shaping up as the closest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with young people disillusioned by the theocracy calling for a boycott of the balloting.

Fearing a boycott after all reformist candidates were disqualified from Iran’s upcoming elections, the country’s supreme leader ordered the applications of some candidates be reviewed today, state-run television reported.

CATHOLICISM never looked as universal, the original meaning of ‘catholic’, as it did when it paid final homage yesterday to Pope John Paul, one of the giants of the Church’s 2,000-year history.

A remarkable collection of world leaders and royalty rubbed shoulders today at John Paul’s funeral, with only an alphabetical seating plan to divide heads of state whose relations could be frosty or even non-existent.

Iran’s president escorted reporters on an unprecedented visit to the once-secret Natanz nuclear complex today, giving a glimpse into the underground uranium enrichment plant the US and Europe demand be shut down.

Ali Akbar Dareini, Tehran

US President George Bush refuses to rule out war with Iran. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says his country is ready to defend itself against a possible US attack.

The United States has too many problems in Iraq to attack Iran, President Mohammad Khatami said today but added that his nation has plans in place should Washington make any aggressive moves.

An increasingly isolated President Robert Mugabe thanked Iranian President Mohammad Khatami for his country’s friendship and support against Western hostility toward Zimbabwe.

Iran again vowed to continue enriching uranium, in a potential setback to a European plan to ease the nuclear standoff with Tehran by offering sales of nuclear fuel and a trade deal as incentives.

Defying a key demand set by 35 nations, Iran announced today that it has started converting raw uranium into the gas needed for enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Iran’s president Mohammad Khatami said today that his country will continue its nuclear development programme even if it meant ending inspections by the UN‘s nuclear agency.

US FORCES and Shi'ite militants fought fierce battles yesterday near a revered shrine in Najaf, as the US military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to quickly hand over the holy site to Shi'ite religious authorities.

US forces and Shiite militants fought fierce battles today marked by explosions and gunfire near a revered shrine in Najaf, as the US military stepped up pressure on the insurgents to quickly hand over the holy site to Shiite religious authorities.

Iran got tough with its nuclear critics today and President Mohammad Khatami warned it has no “moral” commitment to suspend nuclear enrichment if the current trend at the International Atomic Energy Agency continues.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami acknowledged the failure of the pillars of his presidency today, conceding his two key reform proposals that sought to check the powers of hard-liners could not be salvaged.

Iran’s largest pro-reform party has lost hope that free and fair parliamentary elections can be held as scheduled on February 20 and will boycott the polls, its leader said today.

Most of Iran’s Cabinet ministers and vice presidents have submitted their resignations, accusing hard-liners of trying to engineer a sympathetic parliament by disqualifying thousands of prospective election candidates.

IRAN’S reformist government threatened to resign yesterday as other reformers accused hardliners of treason for disqualifying candidates in next month’s parliamentary elections.

SURVIVORS of the devastating earthquake in Bam in southeast Iran spent another night in the freezing cold as relief, including an 80-strong US team, continued to flood in.

Survivors of Iran’s earthquake scavenged the rubble for their battered belongings and desperately jostled for aid handouts as the death toll rose to 28,000, with even more feared dead.

SOME 50,000 people may have died in Friday's Iranian earthquake, officials said yesterday, as relief workers pleaded for more aid for survivors of one of the deadliest natural disasters of modern times.

THERE were brief moments of joy amid the horror of the earthquake shattered Iranian town of Bam yesterday when a young girl and a baby were rescued from under the rubble just as search teams were giving up hope.

There were brief moments of joy amid the horror of the earthquake shattered Iranian town of Bam today when a young girl and a baby were rescued alive from under the rubble just as search teams were giving up hope.

IRAN’S earthquake-devastated city of Bam was filled with the stench of death yesterday as top foreign rescuers warned that hopes were fading for any more survivors from a disaster that killed more than 20,000 people.

NEUROSURGEONS working to separate Iranian twin sisters joined at the head completed one of the most dangerous steps yesterday by re-routing a shared vein as thick as a finger that helped blood flow through their brains, a hospital official said.

Neurosurgeons performing a dangerous operation to separate Iranian sisters joined at the head grappled today with rerouting a vein as thick as a finger that helps blood flow through the twins’ brains.

Hundreds of pro-cleric militants and security forces clashed with Iranians throughout the capital for a fourth night, firing machine guns in the air and using tear gas and batons to put down any public opposition to the country’s hard-line regime.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg today debated whether to negotiate a trade and cooperation pact with Iran, which the US describes as a sponsor of terrorism.