While all Iranian political forces remain committed to the nuclear programme as a national right, voices of discomfort have become louder, particularly over the president's angry tirades against Western countries in his public speeches.

With Iran now under its first UN Security Council sanctions for defying the West, two prominent conservative newspapers on Tuesday printed editorials unusually critical of the president's style in handling the issue.

"One day you announce that we are installing 3,000 centrifuges, the next day you say 60,000. This gives the impression that what you say has not been well thought out," said the daily Jomhuri Eslami.

"At the very moment that the nuclear issue was about to move away from the UN Security Council, the fiery speeches of the president have resulted in the adoption of two resolutions (against Iran)," said Hamshahri.

The editorials by the two newspapers -- proudly conservative but not linked to the even more hardline factions close to Ahmadinejad -- came after the president's allies suffered their first defeat in December elections.

In a twin vote, an ultra-conservative cleric was trounced by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the election for a clerical assembly, and moderate conservatives and reformists won the most seats on local councils.

"There is a direct link between these articles and the results of the elections on December 15," said a leading conservative journalist, who asked not to be named.

"These two articles, which appeared in two important conservative newspapers linked to decision-making centres, show that the authorities prefer a rational approach based on negotiations and cooperation," added the journalist.

"These intemperate declarations (by the president) do not bring any help to solving the nuclear issue."

The daily Jomhuri Eslami likes to style itself as the mouthpiece of Iran's Islamic leaders but is also seen as close to Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative.

Hamshahri is directed by Hossein Entezami, an important member of the team of chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani at the Supreme National Security Council.

The paper expressed regret that negotiations between Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to find a way out of the nuclear crisis in 2006 ended in failure.

While the two men were negotiating, Ahmadinejad said Iran would refuse to suspend uranium enrichment "even for an hour".

Iran's reformists, led by their main faction the Participation Front, have already condemned Ahmadinejad's rhetoric on the nuclear issue.

Meanwhile, other moderate ex-officials who led negotiations on the nuclear standoff during the presidency of the reformist Mohammad Khatami up to 2005 have criticised government policy.

Rafsanjani's brother Mohammad Hashemi has called for a more moderate policy "to save the country from crisis".

"The foreign policy of the government ended in the adoption of two resolutions against Iran. These two articles show that officials have learned the lessons of failure and want to avoid a more serious crisis," said Mohammad Atrianfar, a former executive of the now banned paper Shargh.

"They want to exert more control on the president in order to prevent an aggravation of the situation," he said.

However Ahmadinejad, defiant as ever, lashed out at his critics by saying they were falling into a trap laid by Iran's enemies.

"The resolution voted by the enemies aims at allowing certain internal elements to weaken the will of the people and create a climate of fear and intimidation," he said in a speech on Tuesday.

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