Iranian leader says he has "good relations" with president

TEHRAN, May 12 (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday that he had "good relations" with President Mohammad Khatami and supported his vision of a Moslem "civil society."

In a surprise visit to politically tense Tehran University, a warm and smiling Khamenei also called for a detente in the war between student groups and voiced opposition to vigilante violence against critics and dissidents.

"I have known Mr. Khatami for 40 years since I knew his late father," who was a prominent cleric. Of course I am older than Mr. Khatami by five or six years," the 59-year-old Khamenei was quoted by Kayhan newspaper as saying in response to students' questions.

The Iranian supreme guide, who sat on the ground for a chat with students at the campus mosque, said he believed in the idea of a "Madina al-Nabi" civil society proposed by the president.

He said, "We are all ready to give our lives for such a society," which existed in Medina, Saudi Arabia, during the prophet Mohammad's reign.

Khatami has called for a "civil society" characterized by freedom and democratic principles, and influenced by Moslem moral principles. Asked about Islamic vigilante groups' violence against critics, Khamenei said, "This is the job of the government not the people. If necessary, the government will do it, but sometimes a frown is more effective than a punch."

Islamic hardliners, who fear the moderate Khatami government's policies will undermine the fundamental principles of the 1979 revolution, have attacked liberal newspapers, movie theaters and political rallies by the president's supporters.

The hardliners often justify this campaign of violence by accusing critics of being anti-Khamenei and seeking to destablize his supreme rule, known as Velayat-e-Faqih.

But Khamenei said he did not know of a "sizable group here which does not believe in Velayat. Only some are stronger in their beliefs than others." He urged the rival student groups, leftists and the conservatives, to "speak to each other."

"In all countries of the world, political groups of widely different views sit at one table and talk. It doesn't make sense that in our universities, people who believe in Islamic and revolutionary values are not able to talk," the leader said.

He also said he tried not to impose "my views on various issues as they can be resolved through legal channels. I too am obliged to obey the law." This was Khamenei's second public meeting with young people in the past month.

It was President Khatami who initiated friendly contacts with the public, making unexpected visits to various institutions, soon after taking office in August.

The new style is in contrast with past impersonal images of Iranian leaders addressing large gatherings of people or being swarmed by welcoming crowds when they visited their towns.

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