Iran Elections: Newspaper Warns Khatami Faces Assassination Risk

Iran's most influential pro-regime newspaper has warned the country's reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, that he risks being assassinated like the late Pakistani political leader, Benazir Bhutto, if he stands in the forthcoming presidential election.

The warning from Keyhan a supporter of the radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ? is being seen as a thinly-veiled threat by hardliners that they will resort to violence to prevent Khatami winning June's poll.

Khatami, who held the presidency between 1997 and 2005, announced his candidacy last week, prompting expectations of a bitterly-fought contest with Ahmadinejad. Analysts have predicted that a re-elected Khatami would ease many Islamic restrictions and would be more likely to respond positively to US attempts at engaging with Iran, as promised by Barack Obama.

But in an editorial by its editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, the newspaper suggested that Khatami's aim was to serve western interests by "changing and remaking" Iran's theocratic system. It compared him to Bhutto, whose 2007 assassination at an election rally, it implied, was ordered by the US.

"These political groups aim at using the national and international reputation of this candidate to cast doubt on the entire method of elections. The aim is to increase the cost to the regime," Keyhan wrote.

"In Pakistan, the Americans initially tried very hard to bring Benazir Bhutto to power through propaganda and diplomacy, and to control Pakistan through her, but they adopted a different method when they realized that her party was completely incapable of winning majority seats. This is an enlightening experience."

Khatami's supporters have condemned the article as an attempt to intimidate him into withdrawing. The pro-reformist association of combatant clerics called for the removal of Keyhan's editors.

Shariatmadari ? who answers directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ? retorted that Keyhan should be "appreciated and thanked".

The paper's anti-Khatami tone carries particular weight because its articles are often thought to reflect the views of Khamenei, who has given Ahmadinejad explicit backing.

Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based analyst, said the editorial reflected hardliners' fear of Khatami and raised the possibility of violence. "This can be seen as a serious threat and shows that Mr Khatami is a big competitor to Mr Ahmadinejad," he said. "I worry that radicals will try to convince Mr Khatami not to participate by carrying out one or two terrorist attacks in the country. It could be not just he who is under threat, but people close to him. Radicals really can't bear to see anyone else other than Mr Ahmadinejad as president."