The commander of the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, General Yahyah Safavi, has again claimed that certain groups are -- as he put it -- trying to undermine the Islamic Revolution.

General Safavi said that what he called a third force was attempting to weaken the legal authorities, state television and radio.

He said the Revolutionary Guard would deal with this force when the time was right.

General Safavi was addressing a gathering of more than two-thousand students at Teheran University on Tuesday.

His remarks echo the trenchant criticisms he has made of President Khatami's government, whose liberal policies, he said, were threatening national security.