Rival factions clash at Isfahan's Friday prayers

Isfahan's Friday prayers today were beset by turmoil as rival factions clashed, reports from Isfahan say.

Immediately after Taheri, the Friday prayer leader of Isfahan, announced that he intends to speak about the arrest of Tehran's mayor, a group of participants disrupted Taheri's sermon and began chanting: "The mayor must be executed, down with Karbastchi, down with Montazeri!" Another group confronted them by chanting, "We support you, Taheri!"

The disruption, prompted Taheri to stop his sermon and begin the prayer. Afterwards, he threatened to crackdown on the rival faction's operatives.

While the clerical regime faces its biggest internal crisis in recent years in the Karbastchi affair, today's incidents in Isfahan indicate that the open confrontation between the rival factions of the regime has expanded to cities across the country.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 10, 1998

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