Hard-Liners Accused of Underhandedness

The man who ran Mohammad Khatami’s successful presidential campaign accused the defeated hard-line faction of using dirty tactics to undermine the incoming government. Gholamhossein Karbaschi, who is also mayor of Tehran, accused the hard-line faction of being behind the recent arrest of seven senior municipal officials. “The municipality was stormed by some armed security officials, who as far as we know didn’t even have arrest warrants,” Karbaschi said. “These are the doings of the faction which lost in the elections and is now trying to take revenge.” Khatami is expected to nominate his Cabinet after his inauguration today. Hard-liners have been determined to block Karbaschi and other powerful moderates from getting senior positions in the new government.