Iran smashes 'plot' against president

The Iranian intelligence ministry says it has broken up a plot by religious fundamentalists to assassinate a number of the country's leading figures.

It says the targets included President Mohammad Khatami and other leading reformists, as well as former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the conservative former head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi.

The ministry said security officials had broken up the fundamentalist group and arrested all 34 members. Fourteen were detained and 20 others released after questioning.

Other supporters and activists were "re-educated", it said.

The group is called the Mahdaviat. It is named after one of Islam's most revered figures, the Twelfth, or missing Imam, who Shi'a Muslims believe will reappear to usher in a golden age.

'Deviant cleric'

The group's leader, Hasan Milani, claims to have special links with the missing Imam. He is described by the ministry as a "deviant cleric" with a criminal record.

Officials say the Mahdaviat was dedicated to undermining the Iranian regime as a whole, not just the moderates.

They point out that one of the targets, Ayatollah Yazdi, is a member of the Guardian Council and a hard-line right-wing conservative.

Intelligence officials also blame the group for a car-bomb attack last January on Ali Razini, the conservative head of Iran's judiciary, who was left crippled.

In addition, they said it had set up storage facilities for stolen weapons and ammunition which it planned to use to mount attacks on religious leaders from the Sunni Muslim minority.

The aim was to "sow religious discord", they said.

Timing raises suspicions

Some analysts believe that the timing of the announcement, coinciding with the anniversary of the killings of a string of liberal intellectuals, may be significant.

BBC regional analyst Pam O'Toole says Iran's judiciary and the intelligence ministry - which are both dominated by conservatives - have been under increasing pressure from the pro-reformist press to produce concrete results in the long-running investigation into the intellectuals' murders.

The case has yet to come to court. Official allegations that the killings were conducted by rogue intelligence ministry officials are deemed unsatisfactory by the reformists.

They are also dubious about the announcement that the alleged ringleader of these rogue elements committed suicide in jail.

Analysts say that by publicising the inclusion of a well-known conservative on the alleged Mahdaviat "hit list", hardliners may be hoping to persuade the Iranian public that all factions in Iran, and not just the moderates, are under threat.