Conservative and reformist legislators scuffled in Iran's parliament on Sunday after a reformist lawmaker called on a panel of clerics to examine the performance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The brief bout of pushing and shouting involving around a dozen deputies reflected simmering political tension following parliamentary elections last month which reformists allege were rigged in advance to ensure a conservative victory.
Conservative candidates secured a comfortable majority at the polls, reversing a reformist win in 2000 elections, after more than 2,000 mainly reformist aspirants were barred from standing for election by a watchdog run by religious hard-liners.
Outspoken reformist deputy Ali Akbar Mousavi-Khoeini, one of several dozen reformist legislators barred from standing for re-election, called on Iran's Assembly of Experts to decide whether Khamenei had acted properly over the election dispute.
Reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami have questioned whether Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, tacitly supported the hard-line Guardian Council's decision to ban hundreds of reformists from the election race.
"The assembly should examine if the leader and the council's moves were based on justice and expedience," he told a parliament session, broadcast live by state radio.
The Assembly of Experts, a body of around 86 senior clerics which began an annual meeting in Tehran on Sunday, appoints Iran's supreme leader and is empowered to dismiss him if he is deemed to be performing badly or is unfit to hold the office.
But criticism of the supreme leader is considered anathema by conservatives.
As Mousavi-Khoeini addressed parliament several conservative deputies stormed the lectern and pulled away his microphone. A melee ensued during which deputies traded shoves, kicks and insults. There were no injuries, witnesses said.
Doomed to lose their tribune in parliament when the newly-elected assembly convenes in June, reformist lawmakers have spoken out more openly in recent weeks.
Criticism of the Guardian Council, an unelected 12 member body of hard-line clerics and jurists, has landed at least three reformist deputies in legal trouble, newspapers said on Sunday.