Islamic Participation Front Threatens to Withdraw from Government and Parliament

The largest reformist party in Iran has threatened to withdraw from the government and parliament if the powerful conservatives continue to obstruct social and political reforms. This warning was reflected in a statement by Mohammad Reza Khatami, the leader of the Islamic Participation Front, marking the first threat from Iranian reformists to exit the governance in protest against the worsening political climate in Iran. Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of President Mohammad Khatami, warned in his statement of a popular uprising against the extremist leadership of Iran if it prevents democracy from taking root. He accused the conservatives, who have complete control over the judiciary, of using every political and judicial tool to halt the reform process. He stated that if repression continues, the people of Iran will have no choice but to choose between dictatorship and uprising. The warning from the Islamic Participation Front came a week after a senior cleric and prayer leader resigned in protest against what he termed the spread of corruption at all levels of religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ayatollah Jalaluddin Taheri, in his resignation letter published in reformist newspapers in Iran, accused the hardline Islamists of paralyzing civil institutions and elected bodies in the name of religion.