Iranian leader orders military, officials on alert

The government called on the public to turn out for protest rallies following Friday prayers, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Both countries have massed troops on their common border since the fundamentalist Taliban admitted Thursday to killing eight Iranian diplomats and a journalist last month.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as saying yesterday that military and top civilian officials must be ready "for speedy, timely and decisive implementation of whatever decisions the senior political and security authorities deem necessary."

The leadership of Iran's parliament warned that the situation in Afghanistan "will turn into a regional and trans-regional crisis" and urged Islamic nations to meet to counter the threat, IRNA said.

In Saudi Arabia, Taliban representative Mawlawi Shehabuldin said the religious army does not want war with Iran but that "we are ready to encounter and fight against any outside Iranian invasion." His comments were made in an interview with the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, which was to be published today.

The Taliban, which controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, is widely believed to be supported by Pakistan. Iran, alleged to be backing the alliance fighting the Taliban, has urged a government be formed of all Afghan factions.

Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims like most Afghans. Iran has a majority of Shiite Muslims.

Yesterday, thousands of Iranians marched in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, protesting the diplomats' deaths, Iranian television reported.

There have been widespread calls in Iran for

09-16-98