TEHRAN - ... Khamenei, in a confirmation decree read by Rafsanjani, said: "I appoint him (Khatami) President of the Islamic Republic of Iran...as long as he is committed, and I am sure he will be committed, to the Islamic path and defending the oppressed."

Khamenei, flanked by Khatami and Rafsanjani, lashed out against remarks by analysts and news agencies which reported that the large turnout for Khatami was a sign Iranians had turned their backs on the revolution...

Khatami's Presidency Aggravates Power Struggle, Iran Zamin News Agency, August 3 

In a ceremony which clearly demonstrated the regime's triumviral structure, Khamenei emphasized that Khatami's presidency would be credible only as long as he followed Khomeini's positions.

NCR in a statement released today said: "The beginning of Khatami's presidential tenure will give rise to an unprecedented power struggle among the clerical regime's different factions.

"In his remarks today, Khamenei underlined the motto of justice, in opposition to freedom and liberalization. He further assailed capitalist systems, leaving no doubt about the regime's inability to tolerate any reforms.

"As the Khomeini regime's Minister of Guidance for 10 years, Khatami was the mullahs' chief censor and directly involved in repression and export of terrorism. He is neither interested nor capable of reforming a regime based on the principle of velayat-e faqih (absolute rule of the jurist-consult)...

"Change will only come about when this regime is ousted in its entirety."

New President Faces Tough Test, Associated Press, August 2 

TEHRAN - Voters rallied behind his promise to soften the edges of Islamic rule. Now Iran's new president tests his mandate before a far tougher audience: the Islamic hard-liners who control Parliament...

As the Iran News observed, it will be easy for Khatami to nominate ministers who are competent "but, perhaps for political reasons, (they) would not gain a vote of confidence."

One of the new president's major problems will be how to deal with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei technically stands above the law and has the last word on all matters. He also has direct control of the armed forces, the intelligence services and the Foreign Ministry.

In a round-table discussion on television during the campaign, Khatami said improved ties with the United States "would surely not be in our interests."

Hard-liners support that view and would certainly resist if Khatami changed his mind.

"One of the messages of the election was `yes' to religion, but `no' to religious fanaticism," newspaper columnist Mohammad Javad Hojjati Kermani wrote recently. However, Khatami will not have the power to scrap the social code.

Khatemi Indicates No Muting of Hostility, The Washington Post, August 3 

Mohammed Khatemi, who becomes president of Iran today, can have a new and more cooperative relationship with the United States if he wants one, but so far there are no signs he does, according to senior Clinton administration officials...

Khatemi is hardly a political outsider in Iran. He was culture minister in a previous cabinet -- in which capacity he reaffirmed the death sentence against British author Salman Rushdie -- and was one of only four among 238 presidential aspirants authorized to run by the ruling religious council.

He has said nothing to distance himself from the anti-U.S. policies of the country's religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In his first post-election address to the nation July 19, he said nothing about foreign policy...

Rafsanjani Urges Nation to Be Vigilant, Reuter, August 3

TEHRAN - Iran's outgoing president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged the nation to remain vigilant against its traditional enemies who he said sought to overthrow its Islamic system of government.

Iran "continues to have her traditional enemies who...would not desist from plotting against the Islamic revolution and the Islamic government," Rafsanjani said in an interview on state radio and television on Saturday.

"(Rafsanjani) reminded the nation of the need to be even more vigilant than before for safeguarding the system and the fruits of the Islamic revolution," it said.

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