DEAN WORMER STRIKES BACK:

Iran's Guardian Council vetoes election bill: Move is likely to provoke election boycott (AP, Jan. 25, 2004)

Iran's hard-line Guardian Council has vetoed a bill that sought to reverse the disqualification of thousands of reformist electoral candidates, a leading legislator said tonight.

The move is part of an escalating battle between reform-minded lawmakers and religious conservatives who dominate the most powerful branches of the government. [...]

The legislators had passed the bill earlier today in a session broadcast live on state radio. They categorized it as "triple-urgent," meaning highest priority. It was the first time since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution that parliament had approved a triple-urgency bill.