Tehran, Iran ? Iran’s 27 governors threatened Tuesday to resign unless ruling clerics reverse a decision barring thousands of pro-reform candidates from elections, while the reformist president suggested he too may walk out.

President Mohammad Khatami, meeting with the governors, condemned the Guardian Council’s decision to bar more than 3,000 candidates from taking part in Feb. 20 elections.

The ban includes some 80 sitting lawmakers, and legislators say all of them are reformist. State broadcast media, which are controlled by hard-liners, say the candidates lacked “the necessary legal qualifications.”

A senior official in the president’s office told The Associated Press he heard Khatami tell the governors that he supported their decision and it was possible that he might join them.

“Either we stay on all together or we leave all together,” the official quoted Khatami as telling the governors.

Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said on his Web site Tuesday that several senior government officials believed the decision would impede their work. Vice President Mohammad Sattarifar also said Monday that if the government couldn’t protect “legitimate freedoms,” including fair elections, it might step down.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has pledged to intervene if the crisis is not resolved, but has urged complainants to use legal channels to pursue their case. Disqualified candidates have the right to appeal.

Several reformist lawmakers blamed Khamenei himself for the disqualifications by the council, an unelected constitutional watchdog. About 8,200 people filed papers to run for the 290-seat legislature.

“Guardian Council members are hand-picked by him. It’s not logical to think council members make decisions without their leader’s support,” said Ali Tajernia, one of the legislators barred from running again.

Iranian pro-reform lawmaker Elaheh Koulaei, right, who has been disqualified from seeking re-election by hard-line Guardian Council, holds her number to get permission to speak during an open session of parliament in Tehran. Iran's reformist government has threatened to resign amid denunciations Tuesday of hard-liners for disqualifying candidates for next month's parliament elections.