Tehran's Conservatives Up the Ante

TEHRAN: They may be men of the cloth, but when it comes to political infighting, Irans conservatives play dirty pool. This week Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a key aide of the moderate President Mohammed Khatami, was arrested on corruption charges. The charges are widely regarded as bogus, because Karbaschi is one of the cleanest politicians in the country, says TIME Middle East bureau chief Scott MacLeod. This is the strongest challenge yet to Khatami by the conservatives who are resisting his moves to thaw relations with Washington. Although Khatami and his government have condemned the arrest -- and arranged for Karbaschi to keep on running the capital from behind bars -- he now has to wait for the conservative-dominated justice system to process the case. And plan the battle of his political life.