Iran's moderates challenge president's atomic tactics

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's biggest reformist party openly challenged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hardline nuclear policy on Friday, a day after Washington imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic over its disputed atomic work.

The Islamic Iran Participation Front also warned of an escalating crisis with the international community, calling for a review of Tehran's nuclear policy.

"The government should refrain from its adventurous policies," Mohsen Mirdamadi, the party's secretary-general, told an audience of 200 people during a meeting of the party.

The United States on Thursday dubbed Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferater of weapons of mass destruction and accused its Qods force of backing terrorists. Washington also imposed sanctions on more than 20 Iranian companies, major banks and individuals.

Mirdamadi criticized President Ahmadinejad's anti-Western rhetoric, saying that Tehran had become increasingly isolated since he took office in 2005.

"Are we allowed to impose hardship of (U.N.) sanctions and other harsh measures on our nation as a result of our illogical and unreal self-glorification?," Mirdamadi told the audience, which included reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.

"Are we allowed to display a brutal and adventurous image of the Iranian nation by our misbehavior and through making inappropriate speeches?"

Criticizing the handling of Iran's nuclear policy is unusual and sensitive because it is considered a matter of national security. Reformists believe Iran should return to suspending enrichment, the policy under former President Mohammad Khatami.