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Khamenei casts ballot last week
Photo: AFP
Mousavi supporters rally in Tehran
Photo: AP

Iran's supreme leader appeals for calm

(Video) In his first address to nation since protests against election results broke out, Khamenei calls last week's elections 'magnificent show of responsibility of the people to determine the fate of their own country'; says 'Zionist-affiliated media' falsely portraying political situation

VIDEO: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appealed for calm in Iran on Friday after days of street protests against the results of a presidential election won by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

"Today the Iranian nation needs calm," Khamenei said in his first address to the nation since the protests broke out.

 

The supreme leader said there was "definitive victory" and no rigging in the disputed presidential elections that set off days of unprecedented protests, and offered no concession to opposition supporters who are demanding the elections be canceled and held again.

  

Khamenei, praised the Iranian people for the high voter turnout in last week's presidential elections, which was the highest since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

  

"I haven't heard about such a thing in other democracies in the world," Khamenei said, adding that "there are democracies in the world that are artificial and fragile, and there are democracies like ours."

 

He called the vote "a magnificent show of responsibility of the people to determine the fate of their own country," and blamed Great Britain and Iran's external enemies for the unrest.

  

 

"There are media outlets, some of which are affiliated to the Zionists, that are trying to give the impression that that there is a struggle between those who support the regime and those who oppose it. This is not true. They have no right to say this," Khamenei said. 

 

Khamenei was making his address as part of Friday prayers at Tehran University.

 

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Ahmadinejad was among the throngs of people crowded into the hall to see Khamenei. It was not known whether Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi attended as well. Hpwever, another presidential hopeful made himself known following the event.

 

A few hours following the speech, Mehi Karroubi, a reformist candidate for the recent election, called to annul election results. His comment was posted on the internet.

 

'Both sides unpleasant'

Khamenei said that the television debates before last week's presidential elections included "negative and unpleasant points", and expressed his regret over insults made during the debates.

 

He harshly criticized Ahmadinejad, who had accused Mousavi's people of corruption.

 

"He accused them of lying, and that's not good," the spiritual leader said.

 

Khamenei told the defeated candidates: "I am urging them to end street protests, otherwise they will be responsible for its consequences, and consequences of any chaos."

 

"The result of the election comes out of the ballot boxes, on the street," he said.

   

The address comes one day after hundreds of thousands of protesters in black and green flooded the streets of Tehran in a somber, candlelit show of mourning for those killed in clashes after Iran's disputed presidential election. The massive march - the fourth this week - sent a strong message that opposition leader Mousavi has the popular backing to sustain his challenge.

 

After the June 12 elections, Khamenei approved the balloting results as a "divine assessment" And urged the Iranian people to pursue their allegations of election fraud within the limits of the cleric-led system. But this week's rallies, which recall the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended the Iran's US-backed monarchy, openly defied those orders. It may be hard for Khamenei - a man endowed with virtually limitless powers under Iran's constitution - to back down from his support of Ahmadinejad. But Mousavi and his supporters have also shown that they can't be brushed aside.


Ahmadinejad (center) listens to Khamenei's address (Photo: AP)

 

The supreme leader, who has the final say in all state matters, has tried to strike a compromise. On Monday, he ordered the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei, to investigate Mousavi's voter fraud claims. Even Ahmadinejad has appeared to take the growing opposition more seriously and backtracked on his previous dismissal of the protesters as "dust" and sore losers.

 

"I was only addressing those who rioted, set fires and attack people. I said they are nothing," Ahmadinejad said in a previously taped video shown Thursday on state TV.

 

"Every single Iranian is valuable. Government is a service to all."

 

The government has tried to placate Mousavi and his supporters by inviting him and two other candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad to a meeting Saturday with the Guardian Council. Abbasali Khadkhodaei, a spokesman for the council, said it received 646 complaints from the three candidates. Mousavi accuses the government of widespread vote-rigging and demands a full recount or a new election, flouting the will of Khamenei.

 

The Guardian Council also has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. But Mousavi accuses the government of widespread vote-rigging and demands a full recount or a new election, flouting the will of Khamenei. Iran's ruling clerics still command deep public support and are defended by Iran's most powerful military force - the Revolutionary Guard - as well as a vast network of militias.

 

But Mousavi's movement has forced Khamenei into the center of the escalating crisis, questioning his role as the final authority on all critical issues.

 

So far, protesters have focused on the results of the balloting rather than challenging the Islamic system of government. But a shift in anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy could result in a showdown over the foundation of Iran's system of rule.

 

The crowds in Tehran and elsewhere have been able to organize despite a government clampdown on the Internet and cell phones. The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are vital conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence.

 

Text messaging, which is a primary source of spreading information in Tehran, has not been working since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down. The government also has barred foreign news organizations from reporting on Tehran's streets. 

 

Reuters, Associated Press contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.19.09, 12:03
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