Posted on 08/23/2003 9:23:49 AM PDT by knighthawk
TEHRAN, Aug 23 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami accepted the resignation of his minister for higher education Saturday, tendered last month in protest at the violent suppression of campus riots and the blocking of a key reform bill.
Science, Research and Technology Minister Mostafa Moin is the first cabinet member to stand down since Khatami's reelection in 2001.
But the Tehran press reported that others might follow amid growing anger within Khatami's reformist administration over the styming of his legislative agenda by conservatives within the Islamic regime.
In his resignation letter, Moin said he could no longer tolerate the "poisonous political atmosphere" created by the conflict between Iran's rival decision-making bodies, a reference to the conservatives' use of constitutional watchdogs to override the decisions of the reformist-controlled parliament.
The minister also hit out at the "wave of attacks carried out by the partisans of violence and mean-spiritedness" on university campuses during a wave of student protests in June and July, in the letter carried by the official IRNA news agency.
Moin already tendered his resignation in protest at the suppression of a previous wave of student demonstrations in July 1999 but on that occasion it was turned down by Khatami.
The president said it was "with deep regret" that he was accepting his minister's resignation, and paid tribute to his service to the government in a formal reply also carried by IRNA.
Khatami's reformist supporters have expressed mounting disillusion in recent months as the conservatives have seen off all of their efforts to end the stranglehold on their legislative agenda.
Several Tehran dailies reported this week that government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh was also expected to offer his resignation.
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