In its Wednesday's editions, the daily "Hambastegui" quoted reformist legislator Rasoul Mehrparvar as saying that Mr. Hashemi Shahroudi, "has no dedication to Iran"', the Associated Press said.

Mr. Mansour Hosseini, the paper's editor-in-chief said authorities gave no reason for the closure.

Iranian dignitaries and foreign diplomats and journalists attended the ceremonies that were scheduled for last week but were delayed for three days after the reformists-dominated Majles and the conservatives-controlled Judiciary clashed head on over the election of two new jurists to the Guardians Council (GC).

The change had been suggested Sunday to the lamed leader by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the Chairman of the Discerning Assembly (DA), to which Mr. Khamenehe'i had referred the dispute.

Stressing on his past engagements, namely Islamic democracy and the rule of law, the embattled President warned his powerful rivals against "religious violence" and "intolerance" as "the seeds of free thinking and secularism".

"Resistance to efforts to bring greater freedoms had inflicted a heavy price on Iran", observed Mr. Khatami.

"I swear by God before the Holy Qur’an and the Iranian nation to guard the official religion, the Islamic Republic and the state Constitution", Mr. Khatami said at the beginning of his swearing in speech that analysts described as "deceivingly empty of anything new".

He pledged to push ahead with his efforts to establish a "religious democracy" in Iran and bring reforms to state affairs, stressing that he would never back out from those promises.

"If the religious democracy, which has been emphasised by the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i), is upheld, the society will remain immune from any damage," Khatami added to the dismay of many lawmakers feeling humiliated at the leader’s decisions to reduce their powers.

His first interfering with the Majles took place exactly last year about this time when he ordered lawmakers to stop at once changing a very unpopular press law that had been approved by the fifth Majles weeks before new parliamentary elections.

The Iranian president vowed to "shun despotism and support freedom", adding he would try to protect the rights of the nation and individuals, the official news agency IRNA reported.

He cited reducing unemployment, modernisation of the industrial sector and political, cultural and social and scientific development as his priorities for economic

Development.

But experts said none of these engagements could be achieved without massive foreign investments, to which influential elements both among the conservatives and the reformists alike are opposed to.

Elected twice with a landslide majority, Mr. Khatami was not able to carry out his promised reforms, blaming it on the conservatives who, led by Mr. Khamenehe'i, controls the judiciary, the police, the military, the state-run media, the intelligence and security services, the powerful GC and the DA, an originally consultative institution in pass of replacing both the Legislative and the Executive powers that are in the hands of the powerless reformists.

On the orders of the leader, all but few pro-reform and independent publications that had flourished in the beginning of Mr. Khatami’s first term were shut down and a dozen of influential and popular journalists and high-ranking officials, some of them his ministers or close associates arrested and several leading politicians and intellectuals assassinated.

High-level corruption by family members of senior ruling clerics became the word of the day, a minority rich clerical mafia became richer and the poor, poorer, poverty, addictions, prostitution and unemployment generalised, thousands of medium and small size factories closed with hundreds of thousands workers laid off with pay.

Mr. Khatami’s biggest mistake is that not only he does not lead the reformists, but also has failed to appoint any leader for the popular movement, analysts say.

Khatami allies said after the swearing-in that the conservatives show no sign of making concessions to the widely popular reformist movement, as stressed by the Judiciary Chief during the oath taking ceremonies.