The paper's editor, Mahmoud Shams, said it was published under the name Aftabe Emrooz, or The Sun Today. Appearing on the front page, he said, was an account of an attack on the newspapers offices by thugs believed tied to ultra-conservative politicians.

Shams told the Associated Press that the paper echoed the newspaper Tous, which was ordered closed by the hardline judiciary on Saturday. Tous began publication without missing an issue when its predecessor, Jameah, was ordered shut on July 25.

The papers gained popularity, especially among the young, for frank criticism and analyses of Iranian politics. But they angered the ultra-conservatives who were the focus of the criticisms.

The pro-democracy newspapers defiance placed it at the centre of a power struggle between thedeeply unpopular hardliners and the popular Khatami.

The power to close down the paper rests with the judiciary. But the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, run by a Khatami loyalist, issues permits for newspapers.

Hours after Tous was ordered closed, culture ministry officials urged judicial authorities to allow it to keep publishing, the official Islamic republic news agency reported.

Shortly before the ban on Tous was served on Saturday, militants believed allied to the hardliners assaulted the papers editor and threatened to kill him. They also beat two Associated Press reporters who arrived on the scene.

Shams said the paper had secured life and health insurance for all its employees after the attack.

Tehran Times said in an editorial on Sunday that an investigation should be conducted immediately into who carried out Saturdays attack on the newspaper.

The law should not be allowed to be taken into hands by those who want to impose their own will by force, theEnglish-language paper said.

The justice department justified its banning of Tous by citing several articles of the press law, Irna said. It gave no details.

Hardliners were angered because the newspaper questioned the authority of Iran's spiritual guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asking how an unelected person could wield more power than the president, who won more than 20 million votes in last years elections.