A leading Iranian reformer close to President Mohammad Khatami was fighting for his life last night after being seriously wounded in an assassination attempt amid rising tension in the country.
Mr Said Hajarian was still in a coma with a bullet lodged in the top of his spine and had suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. Doctors said he was on a respirator, and his condition remained extremely serious, adding that his recovery was not guaranteed.
Mr Hajarian (47) is an architect of the reform movement, a prominent figure in the Islamic Iran Participation Front led by President Khatami's brother, and the editor of a leading reformist newspaper.
He was shot by two men on a motorcycle in central Tehran early yesterday. The attack came as tension rises in Iran between two rounds of the elections, with the official results of the first round still unannounced after a partial recount in the capital.
Mr Hajarian is awaiting trial after his daily, Sobh-e Emruz, allegedly published official secrets relating to the murder of dissidents at the end of 1998.
Mr Khatami led condemnation of the attack which spanned the political spectrum, although opinions differed over who might be behind it, with reformists blaming conservatives and conservatives accusing "foreign elements".
Iran's armed opposition movement denied responsibility, blaming the attack on "the clerical regime's in-fighting" following the elections.
"The Iranian Resistance has not carried out this act," a statement faxed to AFP in Nicosia said, even though Mr Hajarian, as a former deputy intelligence minister, "was responsible for countless crimes."
Tehran's police chief, Gen Mohsen Ansari, said the attackers, who fled the scene after the shooting, had used a Colt pistol fitted with a silencer. Police were preparing photofit pictures and had "some leads", he added.
A presidential adviser, Mr Ali Rabii, said the pair were riding a 1,000 c.c. motorcycle, a type normally restricted to government agencies.
Mr Khatami told a gathering of tens of thousands at the town of Meybad in central Iran that his government was determined "to struggle without mercy against terror, violence and murder".
Visibly angry, he said: "The enemies have already committed murders and provoked a wave of terrorism in the country, without achieving their aim, however."
This was a reference to the murders of a number of dissident writers and politicians in late 1998, which were blamed by the intelligence ministry on rogue elements within its ranks and featured in recent disclosures by Sobh-e Emruz.
On Friday one of Sobh-e Emruz's regional offices was attacked by arsonists after telephone threats.