"If Mr. Khameneh’i thinks that he is going to intimidate us with his so-called popular forces, he is utterly wrong", the source told Iran Press Service, referring to the leader’s warning of using "popular forces" to deal with present students unrest.

In remarks made Monday evening during a meeting with the Heads of the three powers as well as the regime’s highest personalities, Ayatollah Khameneh'i had stated that "if the three branches of power could not, or would not want to resolve nation’s important problems, then the leader might call on the popular force to enter the arena in order to tackle the problems".

They also said though the lamed leader did not clearly explained what he meant by "the forces of the people", but he was obviously referring to the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij volunteers and the Hezbollah pressure groups that are under his own payroll.

Ayatollah Khamenei has intervened publicly in times of crisis before, but not with such an obvious threat of direct action that many Iranians fear could lead to widespread violence.

Ignoring magnanimously the leader’s threats, Iranian students, buoyed by the death sentence imposed on Dr. Hashem Aqajari, a popular scholar and Islamist thinker accused of blasphemy, continued Tuesday with their unabated protests against the Judiciary.

"The fact that Ayatollah Khamene’i felt moved to issue such a warning is a clear indication of how critical the situation has become", the student’s leader added, speaking on conditions of anonymity.

The protest movement started five days ago, immediately after a court in the western city of Hamadan announced that it had condemned Mr. Aqajari to death, accusing him of having insulted both the prophet of the Muslims and the clerical corps, to which belongs the leader of the Islamic Republic.

According to Islamic laws, insulting prophet Mohammad carry death penalty.

But the powerless reformists, who, despite being elected by the people, have the smaller share of the leadership, claim that the sentence is politically motivated, aimed at forcing President Mohammad Khatami and the reformists out of power.

The Majles, which is dominated by the reformists, has approved two bills presented by the embattled President to both restore parts of his prerogatives in the one hand and curtail the powers of the leader-appointed Council of the Guardians on the other.

Mr Khatami, twice elected by a landslide, has been advised by some influential reformists to resign if the Guardians block the proposed laws.

And they are expected to do so.

Mr. Abbas Abdi, one of the leaders of the students who stormed the American embassy in Tehran in November 1979 but turned a leading voice supporting resumption of relations with Washington was imprisoned last week, charged by a Tehran court of receiving money from the Americans to "fabricate" survey showing the majority of Iranians backs normalising relations with the United States.

Analysts are sceptical that Mr. Khameneh’i will be able to bring about a negotiated compromise between the two rival factions, as he has himself ordered the crackdown on the reformist press and journalists.

Students, estimated at more than 5,000 gathered at Tehran's University campus on Tuesday, lambasting the head of the Judiciary, the Iraqi-born Ayatollah Mahmood Hashemi Shahroodi and powerful former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, chanting "death to despotism", "death to the Taleban, in Kabol and Tehran".

Police prevented the students from moving outside the main campus onto the streets.

Protests and student strikes have also been reported in other provincial universities, including Isfahan, Tabriz and Kerman.

"Our duty today is to protect universities, students and professors", a member of the Tehran University's Islamic Students

Association told the gathering while he lashed out at the court which has sentenced Mr. Aqajari to death, the pro-government official news agency IRNA reported.

"We denounce any manipulation and violent interpretation of the religion in order to crucify the thought and behead it at the altar of political interests", they added.

The court has however hit back at the critics of the verdict, including Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroobi, accusing him of "using different yardsticks to evaluate one event".

In a statement, a copy of which was made available to IRNA on

Monday, the Hamedan Justice Department reiterated its "blasphemy" indictment against Aqajari and rejected what it described as "harsh, unprincipled, political and factional stances" toward the verdict.

Both Hojjatoleslam Karroobi and reformists lawmakers have strongly criticised the sentence as he invited political parties to maintain restraint and pledged that the issue would be resolved soon.