Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=08/08/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-

TITLE=IRAN / POLITICS (S)

BYLINE=GREG LAMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO, EGYPT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: After much behind-the-scenes political maneuvering, Iran's moderate president has been sworn in for a second term. From V-O-A's Middle East Bureau in Cairo, Greg LaMotte reports.

TEXT: "As President, I swear on the holy Koran to uphold the religion and the people's rights."

With those words, Iran's moderate President Mohammad Khatami was sworn in for his second four-year term in office Wednesday morning.

Mr. Khatami was to have been sworn in Sunday but a dispute erupted between the nation's reform-minded parliament and the hard-line judiciary over the nomination of two conservatives to the powerful oversight panel known as the Guardian Council.

Parliament was refusing to approve nominees to the 12-member panel, which has the authority to veto legislation.

The standoff ended Tuesday, when the parliament was essentially forced to approve the two candidates. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there would be no inauguration until the political dispute was resolved. Iran's top arbitration body, the Expediency Council, upheld the nominations.

Less than a day later Iran officially inaugurated Mohammad Khatami to his second term. (Signed)

NEB/GL/KL