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The Guardian Council announced that only 145 people out of a total of 396 candidates have been approved for participation in the elections for the Assembly of Experts.
Among those eliminated from the list are prominent members of Khatami's faction and his close aides such as Khatami's vice-president mullah Nouri, mullah Hadi Khamenei, mullah Sadegh Karbaschi, mullah Mohtashami and mullah Ansari.
Subsequent to the widespread elimination of the clerics from Khatami's faction, the pro-Khatami Kargozaran Party issued a statement and "expressed regret" over rejection of its members.
2,000 Workers Go on A Strike, Iran Zamin News Agency, September 30
After the government refused to pay their wages, 2,000 workers of the Shafarood factory in the Guilan province went on a strike, the Kar-o-kargar daily reported.
The workers had not received any wages for two months, and upon failure of the officials to meet their demands, the workers decided to go on a strike.
Iran Lets Rial Slide To Boost Exports, Reuter, September 30
Iranian authorities have allowed one of the country's rial exchange rates to slide by nearly 13 percent over the past month in a bid to boost non-oil exports, traders and economists said on Wednesday.
The move does not affect the currency's two official exchange rates of 1,750 rials to the dollar for essential state budget accounts and 3,000 rials to the dollar for most other transactions.
Exporters were selling their hard currency earnings to importers at a rate around 5,720 rials to the dollar on the stock exchange this week, compared to 5,000 rials about a month ago, newspapers said.
Iran's non-oil exports, hit by state red-tape and tough foreign exchange restrictions, have been stagnating despite government efforts to boost them to make up for falling income from oil exports.
But the slide of the rial at the stock exchange will make imported goods more expensive.
Foreign travel will also become more costly as the government uses the stock market rate when it sells limited amounts of hard currency to Iranians travelling abroad.
The currency fell to as much as 6,300 rials to the dollar earlier this month, from 6,100 rials in late August. In the past week, it has hovered around 6,150-6,200 rials to the dollar.
Iran Begins War Games, The Associated Press, September 30
Iranian armed forces held military exercises Wednesday near Afghanistan, a move that could heighten tensions along the border of the two countries.
Iranian television broadcast footage of armored and infantry units advancing toward imaginary enemy positions. The maneuvers, the second in September, follow problems last month with Afghanistan's Taliban militia.
About 200,000 troops will take part in the Iranian exercises, which will cover 20,000 square miles in eastern Iran.
Afghan Defectors Say Were Flying Iranian Arms, Reuter, September 30
KABUL—Five crew-members of an Afghan opposition transport plane who defected to the Taleban said on Wednesday they had been ferrying Iranian and Russian ammunition for the commander of the Islamic militia's last major foe.
"Half of the ammunition came from Russia and half from Iran," the pilot, Commander Mohammad Khan, told a news conference hours after he landed the Antonov transport aircraft at Kabul's civilian and military airstrip on Tuesday night.
The Taleban have often accused Iran and Russia of supplying arms and support to the opposition, but both countries have denied the claims.
Khan said that until recently he used to fly Russian and Iranian armaments to opposition bases in the north, specifically to the town of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Tension between the Taleban and Iran started when the Taleban admitted that some of their men, acting without orders, killed nine Iranians when the Islamic militia overran Mazar-i-Sharif last month.
Mullahs' Navy to Be Strengthened in Caspian—Commander, Reuter, September 30
The Iranian navy intends to have a stronger presence in the Caspian Sea, commander Rear-Admiral Abbas Mohtaj said in remarks published on Wednesday.
Mohtaj stressed the need to detect and deter threats, press reports said. He did not elaborate.
Iran shares access to the landlocked Caspian Sea with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.