Tehran, 15 Feb.(AKI) - The revolutionary founder of Iran's Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, strongly opposed the involvement of the military in political life, his grandson Ali Eshraghi said on Friday.

In an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Ali Eshraghi was speaking about the legacy of Khomeini (Photo) after he was reinstated as a candidate for the Iran's parliamentary elections to be held on 14 March.

"On the subject of interference by the military in political life, my grandfather had very clear ideas and without any hesitation he was against politicians in uniform," Ali Eshraghi told AKI.

More than 2,200 reform candidates were recently banned from taking part in the poll by the council of guardians, a conservative-controlled government body which vets candidates.

But on Wednesday Iran reinstated 280 candidates, including Ali Eshraghi, allowing them to participate in the elections.

"I had left all the documentation and I obtained approval from the interior ministry, but then the control committee of the council of guardians intervened and discarded my candidacy with ridiculous excuses," Ali Eshraghi told AKI.

Ali Eshraghi will be a candidate for the Mosharekat Eslami party, founded by his brother-in-law, Mohammad Reza Khatami, younger brother of former president Mohammad Khatami.

Ali Eshraghi did not want to comment on the reasons why he had been reinstated and added to the list of candidates able to participate in the election.

"I did not even have any recourse against the committee's decision that had excluded me, in reality they did it by themselves, they rejected me and then they rethought it and readmitted me," he said with a smile.

Ali Eshraghi, whose father Ayatollah Mahmoud Eshraghi was one of the principal advisers to Ayatollah Khomeini, also spoke out against attacks against his cousin, Hasan Khomeini, custodian of Khomeini's mausoleum.

“They attack us, and above all attack Hasan Khomeini, because they fail to remember that many are deviating from the path outlined by our grandfather," he told AKI.

"The founder of the Islamic republic did not conceive the presence and the interference of the military in political life and he wanted people to remember his opposition to the military in politics."

"Ayatollah Khomeini wrote in his will that all men in uniform, belonging to the armed forces, the police of the Revolutionary Guards, should be keep their distance from parties and groups and remain outside political games," he said.

"If today we are targeting certain political forces and certain politicians, it is really because people consider us faithful custodians of the thoughts of the imam Khomeini and so we get upset with whoever wants to move our country and our revolution away from the path outlined by the founder of the Islamic republic."

"Striking the heirs of Ayatollah Khomeini is intended to strike the ideals that 29 years ago led millions of Iranians to produce a revolution."

Ali Eshraghi was not optimistic about the outcome of the March parliamentary elections.

There are more than 7,000 candidates and the final list of approved candidates will be announced on 5 March.

"We are certainly playing the election game in very difficult conditions, in the absence of parity and for this I believe we could achieve more," he said.

"In these elections not all the teams on the field have the same number of players, the same time and the same means to compete and so the results will be compromised."

Ali Eshraghi did not use the term isolation to describe his country's position in the world but spoke of " a very difficult moment" and added that "even the government has contributed to this situation".

He said the situation could be improved and tensions reduced if control was passed to representatives freely elected by the people.

Ayatollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, became Iran's first Supreme Leader after the 1979 Islamic revolution.