Iran's president offers to resign
USATODAY 7.12.2003
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — President Mohammad Khatami unexpectedly said he will resign if people want him to go, amid growing public dissatisfaction over his failure to meet promises of democratic reform, a newspaper reported Saturday.
It was the first time Khatami has publicly offered to resign. Iran's formerly popular president has come under increasing pressure in recent months to stand firm against unelected hard-line clerics and fulfill election promises of freedoms and democratic change.
"We are not masters of people but servants of this nation. If this nation says we don't want you, we will go," Khatami was quoted as saying by the government-owned daily, Iran.
Khatami made the comments in a speech in Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, on Thursday, but the state-run television and radio censored the part of his speech that discussed a possible resignation.
Khatami's hopes for a compromise with hard-liners have been thwarted in recent weeks after the Guardian Council, which vets all parliamentary legislation, rejected two key reform bills presented by the president.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-07-12-khatami_x.htmIf Khatami resigns it will be civil war, perhaps it is time for that.