...Question: "You said: If this leadership does not change, the Islamic state itself is in danger. Do you think that the system may fall apart?"

Montazeri: "The peoples' consensus is the basis for everything. The Islamic Republic means popular government. If the people are disappointed, they will stop believing in the Revolution or in Islam. There is a lot of aggressiveness from the system. Yet, the Qur'an speaks continuously of a God of love, clemency, and mercy. If there is rage and violence there will be rejection..."

Question: "You do not have a good opinion of Khatami. Why?"

Montazeri: "He talks a lot, but in practice he does little. Let's take [for example] the sit-in of the MP's to protest against the Guardian Council members' rejection of candidacies. Khatami should already have organized it three years ago, when the Guardians themselves rejected the electoral law. Khatami has adopted a tactic of quietism; he has avoided angering 'others.' But in fact what were these reforms? They were the implementation of the promises made at the beginning of the Revolution. Nothing special."...

...The main reform party announced Monday that it would boycott upcoming parliamentary elections, but stopped short of asking Iranians not to vote.

"We have no hope that a fair, free, and legitimate election can be held on February 20. So in the current circumstances we cannot participate," said Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Monday. If the vote were held then, he added, "It would not be a reformist government anymore."

Nearly one third of the 290 members of parliament resigned on Sunday after the unelected hard-line Guardian Council reinstated 1,160 reform candidates - but upheld rejections of 2,400 others over the weekend.

However, hard-liners held their ground...