The wife of the presidential candidate challenging Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in Friday’s election has threatened to sue Iran’s fundamentalist president for comments he made in a television debate.

Zahra Rahnavard, who has played a significant role in her husband Mir-Hossein Moussavi’s election campaign, said on Sunday that if Mr Ahmadi-Nejad did not apologise within 24 hours she would take him to court, after he questioned her degree and academic status.