The Iranian interior ministry has condemned an Islamic militant group for breaking up a gathering of supporters of a former liberal prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan. In a statement, the ministry said the group known as Ansar-e-Hezbollah (or Supporters of the Party of God) is planning to create insecurity and chaos in Iran. The BBC's Iranian affairs reporter, Sadeq Saba, says President Khatami appears to be powerless in dealing with the continuing violence by the militants:

Mr Khatami promised the rule of law to be the cornerstone of his presidency.

But since he came to power last August, the militant Ansar-e-Hezbollah has continued its campaign of violence directed at people who they deem to be against the interests of the Islamic Republic.

The Iranian interior ministry has condemned this latest violent incident and called on the juduciary to bring to justice the perpetrators who it insists are quite well-known. It has promised to make sure that the memorial service will go ahead on Thursday tomorrow.

But the fact is that President Khatami's government does not have the power to fulfill this promise, as the police and security forces in Iran are controlled by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Some supporters of Mr Khatami also suspect that the militant groups are being financed and used by rival conservative organisations in order to undermine the president's attempts at introducing more freedoms.

In its statement, the interior ministry said that the motive for continued violence was to create chaos in the country at a time when the president was trying to establish the rule of law.