1.   Candidates are screened in advance by the ruling clergy for orthodoxy and acceptability.

2.   A group of Iranian journalists canceled a trip to the United States, apparently for fear of angering the hard-liners in the ruling clergy, a newspaper reported Sunday.

3.   Failed presidential candidate Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri was re-elected parliament speaker on Sunday following a behind-the-scenes deal with moderates in the ruling Muslim clergy.

4.   Hard-line politician Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri was re-elected parliament speaker on Sunday following a behind-the-scenes deal with moderates in the ruling Muslim clergy.

5.   Iranian authorities on Monday reported the first arrests in the recent serial killings of dissidents, which have terrified intellectuals opposed to hard-liners in the ruling clergy.

6.   It also indicates that most Iranians want freedom, not the violent overthrow of the ruling Islamic clergy.

7.   Iranian election poses test for ruling clergy.

8.   It is known that hard-liners in the ruling clergy are opposed to his democratic and economic reforms and his openness to the West.

9.   Khatami did not elaborate, but hard-liners in the ruling clergy openly have opposed his social and economic reforms and his openness to the West.

10.   Khatami is being opposed at every step by conservative members of the ruling clergy who have lost no opportunity to target vulnerable Khatami supporters such as Karbaschi.