The loud and clear warning came from several fronts at the same time, with the Islamic Iran Participation Party (IIPP) that backs the embattled President Mohammad Khatami openly condemning the Judiciary over a one year jail sentence handed down Sunday to Mr. Mostafa Tajzadeh, the senior Deputy Interior Minister in charge of supervising elections.

Observers said the attempt to remove Mr. Tajzadeh from activity, particularly his responsibility as Senior Supervisor of elections was both to further weaken the position of Mr. Khatami and persuade him of the "futility" of seeking another mandate.

Mr. Khatami has not yet officially announced his decision, but the spectre of Mr. Khatami’s probable and possible decision not to represent himself at the next presidential elections was branded Monday by first vice-Speaker Behzad Nabavi, saying "repeated crises, churned by his rivals and conservative backlashes have led Mr. Khatami to think twice about his decision to seek a second term in office".

"One crisis in every nine days does not comply with his serene personality and to his unhappiness with his ideals of establishing a rule of law and civic society", Mr. Nabavi said, referring to a statement made recently by Mr. Khatami, complaining that since he took over four years ago as President, he was faced with one crisis
"every nine days"

"Khatami thinks imprudent to become president again at any cost, let's say with eight million votes" Mr. Nabavi said, reflecting the fear of many of Mr. Khatami’s allies that his hesitations, his lack of firmness and above all silence over the jailed reformists, some of them his closest allies, have turned many voters, particularly the restless students, away of him.

A virtual boycott would keep many voters at home and call into question the legitimacy of the system. Iran, with half its population under the age of 20 and pinning high hopes on Mr Khatami, would face an uncertain future.

In an open letter to the Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Sharudi, the IIPP described the verdict, that also carry 42 months of ban from all public activities and another five years of suspension from overseeing elections, as "regretful and detrimental to the state and the judicial system".

An influential member of the MIRO, a leftist group in the pro-Khatami Second Khordad Coalition (SKC), the 44 years-old Tajzadeh was accused by an Administrative court of electoral frauds and rigging the February 2000 Legislative elections that gave the reformists a landslide victory.

He is free pending an appeal against the sentence which he can file within 20 days.

Observers said after several recounting of the votes, the CG finally had the former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani "elected" as the last of the Capital’s 30 deputies.

With his eyes fixed on the seat of Majles (parliament) Speaker, Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani had "gracefully accepted" to enter the race, but was so badly defeated that he had even no chance to be elected in the second round.

Ignoring the controversial sentence, Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Musavi-Lari said Monday that Mr. Tajzadeh would stay on his job and continue to organise the forthcoming Presidential elections of June 2001.

The IIPP criticised the leader-controlled Judiciary for what it said was "numerous, unjustifiable detention" of reformists including the MMs (Members of the Majles) and called on the Iraqi-born Hashemi-Shahrudi to "scrutinize the case".

In the letter, the IIPP, the biggest of all Iranian political formations that also controls the largest number of seats in the Majles, asked Mr. Hashemi-Sharudi whether he is aware of what is going on in the power he controls and if the answer is positive, he better "never talk about reforms".

IIPF also attacked the recent arrest of reformist MPs, saying they have been in contradiction with the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.

In a recent speech, Ayatollah Khameneh'i, over ruling his predecessor, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who had placed the Majles as "first among equals" said the Judiciary was above the two other powers.

His declaration led the Judiciary to warn reformist MMs from "interfering" in the Judiciary affairs and the Head of Tehran's Justice Administration Judge Abbasali Alizadeh criticised reformists for their support of the jailed reformists, including the dozen of journalists he described as "common law offenders".

If Mr. Khatami decides to seek a new mandate under the same set of conditions, he would perpetuate the present situation for another four years, resulting in more chaos and paralysis of the system and if decides not to represent himself, he could create unpredictable crisis for the regime.