President Mohammad Khat ami of Iran yesterday vowed to continue with democratic reform on the second anniversary of his election, but warned that abuse of freedom could undermine clerical rule in the Islamic republic.
Dr Khatami told 100,000 newly-elected local councillors at Azadi stadium, Tehran, that Iran was going through a sensitive transitional period toward "lasting pluralism and Islamic democracy", which had produced tensions between his reformist supporters and conservatives opposed to fundamental changes.
The council members were elected in February as a direct result of Dr Khatami's attempts to introduce a civil society within the Islamic system.
"We have to be aware of the sensitivity and be alert about this transitional period. Many of the things happening which we think are not correct are because of the necessities of this transitional period," Dr Khatami said.
He was apparently referring to a violent campaign against his supporters in the past two years by hardliners seeking to protect what they see as the core values of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Flanked on the dais by both reformist and conservative officials in a gesture of unity, Dr Khatami gave warnings against excesses in the search for freedom, saying liberties would only be allowed within the framework of the supreme clerical rule established in Iran after the revolution.
The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, openly sided with the conservatives last week against any attempts by Dr Khatami's government to ease the ban on satellite TV reception in line with his cultural thaw and to reduce clerical control over future elections. But yesterday, in remarks certain to please the President, he spoke in favour of allowing more diverse political views.
Later, a small group of hardline youths attacked a rally of several thousand reformist students at a Tehran park, provoking scattered scuffles.