Tehran mayor gains high-level support

Ayatollah Khamenei has urged government leaders to settle their differences

Almost 700 Iranian mayors have expressed support for the moderate mayor of Tehran, Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, who was arrested last week on corruption charges.

The mayors say the charges are baseless and have urged President Mohammed Khatami to investigate the issue.

Earlier, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei urged goverment leaders to settle their differences in the crisis triggered by the arrest of Mr Karbaschi, on corruption charges.

Ayatollah Khamenei summoned President Khatami, and the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi, and told them them to submit a full report immediately.

Mr Khatami's cabinet promised to continue dealing with the detained mayor as though he were still in office.

The case is widely seen as a high-profile political crisis, intensifying the confrontation between the reformist President and hardliners.

The BBC's Iranian affairs reporter, Sadeq Saba, says Ayatollah Khamenei's intervention may temporarily defuse the escalating crisis which has threatened the Islamic Republic.

He thinks one face-saving formula can be to release Mr Karbaschi after a few days. In that case both factions could claim half-victory; the conservatives by saying that they managed to humiliate Mr Karbaschi and the moderates by arguing that it was their pressure which forced his release.

But he says it appears the basic contradictions between the two factions will continue, especially after so much open feuding in the last few days.