Conservatives demand role in naming Cabinet

Beirut: A hardline group demanded on Friday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad obey the country's supreme leader or risk losing the confidence of lawmakers from his own conservative political camp.

The Front Loyal to Imam and Leadership, a group of 14 conservative political parties and organisations led by prominent hardliner Habib Allah Asgaroladi, demanded that Ahmadinejad consult with his supporters before making appointments to his Cabinet, which he must submit for approval within 12 days.

"If, God forbid, you pursue an approach different from the one elucidated by the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] because of your refusal to consult the honest friends of the revolution or you lose public faith out of obstinacy, we fear that the regime would suffer irreparable damage," the statement said, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency.

Iran is struggling through its worst political crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution after Ahmadinejad's disputed June 12 re-election, weeks of ongoing protests by supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hussain Mousavi, and a harsh crackdown against dissidents and reformers within the political establishment.

Protesters continued to defy security forces. Amateur video tape posted on the internet showed hundreds chanting slogans as they marched through the western city of Kermanshah on Thursday on the religiously significant 40th-day death commemoration of Kianoush Asa, a chemistry graduate student killed during a protest. A student news website said 10 mourners were arrested.

Meanwhile, police told the Mehr news agency that they arrested 50 or so demonstrators among hundreds and possibly thousands who took to the streets of Tehran, the capital, chanting "Death to the dictator!" in scattered protests on Thursday night during a religious festival.

Authorities barred soccer fans from entering Tehran's Azadi Stadium on Friday to watch a game after protesters vowed to chant slogans and wear the opposition movement's signature green colours during the match.

Conservative rivals of Ahmadinejad have emerged as some of his harshest critics during the crisis, especially over his decision to appoint a controversial aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, as first in line to succeed him. Under pressure by conservatives, he backed down, but reappointed Mashaei as his chief of staff.

Hassan Gafourifard, a member of parliament's presiding board, told Mehr on Friday that Ahmadinejad had refused to hold any consultation with the lawmakers about the composition of his future Cabinet.

Asgaroladi's group urged lawmakers to approve Ahmadinejad's ministers only if they are "qualified to enter a competent, powerful and servant Cabinet that would be loyal to the Supreme Leader."

Conservatives also have begun criticising the ongoing broadcast of stilted confessions of prominent politicians and others arrested in the crackdown and held for weeks in solitary confinement without access to lawyers or their families. Reformists immediately blasted the confessions as "show trials."