Iran was to air more interviews on Thursday with two US-Iranian academics detained on charges of harming national security after a first broadcast "revealed" their links to a US democracy drive but contained no major confessions.

The United States has angrily condemned the broadcast of the programme, which sought to link the cases of Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh to a US drive to impose democracy in the Middle East.

While Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh, in Wednesday"s first part, appeared to implicate themselves in US efforts for change in Iran, they showed no sign of making a formal confession to their charges.

"Their aim (the United States) is to bring about a change in the decision making bodies in Iran from within, to bring about a change in the decision makers themselves," Esfandiari said.

The interviews were spliced with footage from the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia and the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, a reference to complaints from Teheran that Washington would like similar popular uprisings in Iran.

Bizarrely, no mention was made in the programme that the two academics are currently jailed or face grave charges of harming national security.

Instead, it appeared that the programme -- "In the Name of Democracy" -- was seeking to present them as experts commenting on clandestine US work to bring about change in foreign countries.

Both were shown in comfortable rooms equipped with potted plants, carpets and, in Esfandiari"s interview, a fridge. The surroundings bore absolutely no resemblence to prison cells.

The second and final installement -- to be broadcast at 10:45 pm (1915 GMT) -- will be closely watched to see if Tajbakhsh and Esfandiari make more statements.

State television touted the programme as one of "revelations" and the Iranian judiciary has emphasised their statements carry no legal validity and are not related to ongoing case.

AFP

Güncelleme Tarihi: 20 Temmuz 2007, 00:04