At the end of his meeting with Iranian officials, including Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, the embattled President and his Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, Mr. Solana stressed that Iran-EU’s undergoing negotiations could not be limited to trade and economic questions, but must also deal with other issues such as human rights and fighting terrorism, and warned that if nothing positive come from the Iranian side, "there would be no progress" (on the signing of a Trade and Custom Agreement with the European Union).

Mr. Solana reached Tehran early Monday morning and left the Iranian capital late the same night for Kabol.

Dr. Yoosef Mola’i, a professor at Tehran University described Mr. Solana’s visit to Iran as "very important" and said the purpose was to spell to the Iranians that not only the European Union is not happy about the progress of reforms, but also considers it as probably dead.

Conservatives-controlled newspapers and lawmakers immediately slammed Mr. Solana, accusing him of "meddling" in Iranian internal affairs.

"It seems that Solana had come to Iran to dictate a series of demands from European governments, the regimes that are prompt to call on other nations to respect human rights or fight terrorism, but are the first to violate them, as we see the behaviour of the American police with blacks and coloured people, and the Europeans with the Muslim and foreign immigrants", the paper pointed out.

Mr. Hasan Seyyed Abadi and Mrs. A’zam Naseri, conservative deputies from Sabzevar and Eslam Shahr Qarb said Iran’s conditions for establishing ties with the EU should be based on non-interference in Iranian affairs and accept both their international duties in the one hand and Islamic Iran’s laws.

"Europe must make its position clear towards Iran", said Mrs. Naseri, adding that Germany is acting under American provocation and pressures and aims at preserving mutual interests".

Analysts said ruling Iranian conservatives warn major Western nations against interfering in Iranian domestic issues but at the same time they allow themselves of doing exactly the same thing with other countries.

They were referring to harsh criticism formulated by the conservatives-controlled press against the Persian Gulf Emirate of Qatar over the meeting, in Paris, on Sunday evening, between the oil-rich Sheikhdom’s Foreign Affairs Minister with his Israeli counterpart, Mr. Shimon Peres.

The cold shouldering of Solana’s visit and the his remarks in Tehran in support of the reformers is seen by Iranian observers as another sign that confirms measures taken by the hard liners, led by the Khameneh'i-Rafsanjani-Khatami "troika", to increase isolation of their crumbling regime from outside world, a scheme that includes the suspension of the Executive and the Legislative powers that are under the control of the reformists and installing an emergency government instead.

"But since the Judiciary is under the direct control of the leader acts as his police and political arm and since Mr. Khatami has moved closer to the hard-liners, remains the parliament and the few lawmakers who continue to challenge his authority", said Mr. Mohammad Arasi, an analyst based in the United States.

The remarks were strongly attacked by the conservatives, but received a lukewarm welcome by some influential reformers, both in the press and the parliament.

That "olive branch" to Iranian reformers did come after the January State of the Union’ s "stick" in which President Bush had placed the Islamic Republic in the "axis of evil states" together with North Korea and Iraq.

In a series of drastic measures, the conservatives orchestrated anti-American demonstrations, the Revolutionary Guards that are the mollah’s "praetorian guard" issued a stern political statement accusing the reformers of acting as Washington’s "fifth column, paving the way for American’s eventual attack on Iran" and Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned that Tehran would hurt the US "in its very heart, if attacked".

Followed the closure "No Rooz" (New Day), the semi-official organ of Islamic Iran Participation Front, the largest pro-reform political formation, the airing by the State-run Television, which is under the direct order of Mr. Khameneh'i, of "confessions" of Mr. Siamak Poorzand, abducted a year ago and sentenced to two weeks ago to 11 years jail on charges of "collaboration with enemies", in which the 71-years-old journalist "confessed" to all charges, including distribution of money received from the CIA and Iranian Monarchists to dissident journalists and dissolved the Iran Freedom Movement, one of the nation’s oldest nationalist-religious organisation and sentenced 21 of its senior members to nine months to ten years imprisonment.