Move to interpellate Khatami's Interior Minister signals aggravating power struggle at the top of clerical regime

Thirty-one Majlis deputies called for a formal interpellation of Interior Minister Abdullah Nouri in today's session of the clerical regime's parliament. Deputies from Khamenei's faction have been threatening to make the move for weeks, but today's action is the most serious step taken to-date.

In a move that showed the gravity of the situation, Khatami rushed to the aid of his minister and, in remarks broadcast by the state television today, he described Nouri as "a sound, capable figure and a prominent personality in the revolution and the state."

This comes at a time when the aftermath of the first session of the trial of Tehran's suspended Mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi continues to resonate. The trial has exposed the pervasive repression and the corrupt Judiciary that does not even refrain from using physical and psychological torture and maltreatment against officials in the rival faction. It has also unveiled the unprecedented extent of corruption and organized crime in the ruling circles and administrative bodies.

A survey of public reaction to the Karbaschi trial in different parts of the country shows that the clerical regime in its entirety has been the biggest loser of the whole scam. People compare the trial with tribunals set up in the final months of the shah's regime to try top officials on corruption charges.

The extent of corruption and criminal activities in the mullahs' regime has aroused great fury and resentment among the general public, in a country where, according to official figures, 80 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

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

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