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At least 33 Iranian MPs have been banned from running in March's elections, prompting calls for a boycott of the poll

 Iran's interior ministry has blocked at least 33 MPs from running in parliamentary elections in March, adding to calls for a countrywide boycott.

At least 33 Iranian MPs were told on Tuesday that their candidacies had not been approved even though they currently serve in the parliament, local news agencies reported.

Many reformist MPs and even some conservatives are among those barred from running in the March vote, which the country's intelligence minister has described as "the most sensitive elections" since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Ali Motahari, a conservative MP whose father, Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, was among the key founders of the Islamic republic, is among those on the blacklist. As an outspoken critic of the government's political and economic policies, Motahari was the driving force behind an impeachment motion against Ahmadinejad.

In October, Iranian MPs succeeded in securing enough signatures for a summons to question Ahmadinejad but the parliament's presiding board refused to issue it after an intervention from the c... >>>