News

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Moderate former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has been barred from traveling abroad, the pro-reform Parlemannews website reported on Thursday.

"Mohammad Khatami was barred from leaving Iran to attend a conference in Japan," an unnamed source told the website. The source did not give details.

"Khatami was supposed to leave Tehran for Japan Thursday night ... to take part in a conference on nuclear disarmament in Japan."

There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities, or from Khatami's allies.

Khatami publicly backed moderate defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi during the country's disputed June presidential election, which reformists said was rigged to secure hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.
ad_icon

Official results of the vote showing Ahmadinejad won by a landslide, but the country was rocked by street protests by Mousavi supporters. Authorities rejected vote rigging allegations.

Security forces quelled the protests but opposition leader Mousavi and his allies have refused to back down, saying the reform movement will continue.

The aftermath of the vote, which plunged the Islamic state into its worst internal crisis, exposed deepening divisions in its ruling elite.

The authorities blame the opposition leaders for trying to topple the clerical establishment, which is also locked in a standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear work.

Khatami's allies d... >>>