TEHRAN The Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri expressed regret over the tension created at a seminar of the Iranian surgeons held here on Monday. According to the Head of Iran's Surgeons' Association Dr. Iraj Fazel, Nouri has apologized to the medical community of Iran for the insult to them. According to a report by the Persian daily Hamshahri, around 40 persons stormed into the seminar to demand an apology for critical comments made by a surgeon against the Commander of the Islamic Revolution's Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi. The attackers closed the doors of the conference in northern Tehran at around noon on Monday and prevented people from entering or leaving, Hamshahri said.

Their spokesman took over the microphone and demanded an apology from a surgeon who had criticized General Safavi two days earlier. The surgeon had also protested against a recent ruling by Majlis to segregate medical care by sex. According to the paper, one of the surgeons present at the seminar who protested against the raid was beaten up and taken away.

Organizers later decided to close the meeting but were prevented by the assailants, who insisted on an apology, it said. Several video cameras and other pieces of equipment were broken in the ensuing stand-off, and the attackers seized the taped cassette of the event before they left the hall. The conference resumed in the afternoon.