Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami Sunday declared his intention to stand in Iran's upcoming presidential elections in a challenge that could see the ouster of the incumbent hard-line government. "I strongly announce my candidacy in the elections," Khatami told a news conference after he held talks with an association of moderate clerics.
"I never had doubt. Is it possible to remain indifferent toward the revolution's fate and shy away from running in the elections?" he asked. "I consider this as a right to run ... This candidacy doesn't deprive others and the path is open. What should be stressed is that the elections must be held freely."
Khatami, 65, was president of Iran between 1997 to 2005. He was succeeded by hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Khatami said it was important "to think about the fate of the nation and its long-time desire to be proud, free and to progress and reach justice."
"I hope I can take steps to remove the people's problems and also enhance their position in the world." In his previous presidential term, Khatami inspired the Iranian youth with promises of social and political reforms. Newspapers and media flourished during his term, while Iran's relations with the West were less confrontational than they are now under Ahmadinejad.
If he emerges victorious again, expectations are that relations between Iran and the West, which are frosty over Iran's controversial nuclear programme, could begin to thaw.
Western nations led by Washington accuse Tehran of seeking to make atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme. Iran says its atomic ambitions are entirely peaceful. Despite Khatami's best efforts, he encountered major setbacks to his reform programme during his previous tenure.
Leading nationalists and liberal writers were assassinated in late 1998 in a series of brutal killings blamed on "rogue" intelligence service agents.
Several critics say Khatami was not firm enough against hard-line establishments in the Islamic republic, leaving his mostly youthful supporters disillusioned and disappointed. Perhaps anticipating he would again challenge for the presidency, in the past two years the cleric has made a number of bold statements targetting not only Ahmadinejad but also the 12-member Guardians Council, one of the pillars of Iran's Islamic system.
Ahmadinejad came under fire for his expansionary economic policies and confrontational international rhetoric while the Guardians Council was criticised for having the power to veto parliamentary bills and stop candidates from standing in elections. "What right do we have to decide in the place of the electorate and prevent the candidature of people who have the confidence of the people only because six or 12 people do not approve them?" he asked.
Hard-liners were enraged last year when he made a speech at a university which was interpreted as accusing Iran's clerical leaders of supporting insurgents in the Middle East. Khatami referred to the ambition of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to export the 1979 Islamic revolution around the world, but expressed fear this wish was being distorted.
"What did the imam (Khomeini) mean by exporting the revolution?" he asked in the speech. "Did he mean that we take up arms, that we blow up places in other nations and we create groups to carry out sabotage in other countries? The imam was vehemently against this and was confronting it," he added.
His words were seen by hard-liners as accusing the Iranian authorities of encouraging militants to destabilise the Middle East, in particular Iraq and Lebanon.