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Tehran paper urges Khatami to ignore hardline opposition to France visit

TEHRAN, April 4 (AFP) - The moderate paper Khordad Sunday urged Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to press ahead with his delayed visit to France, saying that hardline opponents of his trip were damaging Tehran's interests.

"Khatami's visit to France is in Iran's interest" but "certain political circles are against it," the paper said.

President Khatami on Monday put off a ground-breaking visit to Paris planned for April after a wrangle about the serving of wine at official receptions which Iranian officials explained as a disagreement about the programme for the visit.

"Certain people are against Khatami's visit to Paris" because they "do not realise that his popularity only contributes to a strengthening of the regime," a member of the parliamentary committe for foreign affairs, Ahmad Ghazaii-Niari, told the paper.

Nationalist activist Parviz Varjavand warned of the damaging effect that indefinite postponement of the visit could have on relations. "If the postponement of this trip to France is prolonged, it could affect Tehran-Paris ties," he told the paper.

Several Iranian dailies, most of them close to the conservatives, on Saturday lashed out against France following President Mohammad Khatami's postponement of the visit, calling Paris's insistence on having wine served at official dinners "disrespectful towards Islamic codes."

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