An electoral crisis loomed Saturday in Iran as the interior minister said February's parliamentary elections would be illegal in light of an impasse over the disqualification of reform candidates.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami reportedly was in the hospital with back pain Saturday.

The hard-line Guardian Council, which reviews candidates, summarily disqualified hundreds of possible reformers for the February 20 elections. Reformers hold a significant majority in the Iranian parliament.

Speaking at the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari said that "the only decision made at the end of talks [with the Guardian Council] was to increase the number of disqualified [members of parliament] from 83 to 87," the state-run news agency IRNA reported.

"Naturally, holding elections would be out of question," Lari said.

Lari said elections could be held if the Guardian Council changes its stance by "letting the public vote for their desired candidates and giving the nominees from different factions the chance to run for elections."

Sources close to the reformers said that at least 80 reform legislators -- most of whom have been barred from running for re-election -- plan to resign en masse from the Iranian parliament Sunday.

If they do so, the possible resignations of just 11 other lawmakers in sympathy could cause the parliament to lose its quorum -- 180 of its 270 members must be present for a session to be valid. Such a development would be a first, and one for which Iran's constitution spells out no remedy.

Some observers said they believe it would be the responsibility of Iran's hardline supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to intervene.

The IRNA news agency also reported that the office of moderate President Mohammad Khatami retracted part of a speech he delivered Saturday at Khomeini's tomb in which he expressed similar thoughts as his interior minister.

"We have reached a dead end with the Guardian Council," journalists reported hearing Khatami say.

But Khatami's office disputed that account.

"In the official and reliable statements of the esteemed president in his interview with reporters at the late imam's mausoleum, no such [remarks] were ever made," the president's office said in a statement.

Wire service reports indicated Khatami -- after delivering his speech -- was taken to the hospital with a bad back Saturday and unavailable for further comment.

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