Iran's Supreme Leader Demands End to Election Protests
Ayatollah Also Rejects Opposition's View That Vote Tally Was Result of Fraud
Friday, June 19, 2009; 10:20 AM
TEHRAN, June 19 -- Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Friday ended any doubts about his support for the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rejecting the opposition's complaints that last week's election results had been manipulated, and called for the end of street demonstrations that have embroiled this capital city for a week.
In a special address at a Friday prayer service, Khamenei told the tens of thousands of people who spilled out of a covered pavilion at Tehran University that the election is over and that "the Islamic republic never betrays the votes of people."
He expressed confidence in the vote tallies. "The margin between the candidates is 11 million votes," he said. "If it is 500,000 maybe fraud could be of influence. But for 11 million, how can you do that?"
The government announced last Friday that Ahmadinejad had amassed about 63 percent of the vote, while former prime Mir Hossein Mousavi got 34 percent. Mousavi and his supporters demanded a new vote and have staged massive rallies across the city throughout the week.
Khamenei, making his first public comments about the election and the upheaval it produced, blamed foreign governments, especially the United States and Britain, for encouraging the opposition.
"American officials' remarks about human rights and limitations on people are not acceptable because they have no idea about human rights after what they have done in Afghanistan and Iraq and other parts of the world," he said. "We do not need advice over human rights from them."
He urged Iranians to be careful not to cause problems because "Iran is at a sensitive juncture," pointing to world problems.
He reiterated that Iran's leadership would not be influenced by the street protests, sternly telling opposition leaders that "they will be responsible for bloodshed and violence" from such protests. "It is through voting that people show what they want, not in the streets," Khamenei said. The protests will not change the legal system, he said. "They should not be under the impression that by protesting in the street they can put leaders under pressure."
There was no immediate response from Mousavi or his aides about the speech. However, his campaign has called for another large demonstration Saturday and it was not immediately clear if they would defy the orders from Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran.
Khamenei said that the Guardian Council is looking into complaints about voting fraud. The council, a 12-member panel of senior Islamic clergy and jurists, has invited the four presidential candidates to a meeting Saturday to discuss their concerns about the voting and has said it will conduct a recount of some disputed balloting.
But Khamenei's comments made clear his support for Ahmadinejad, even saying "the president's opinion is closer to my opinion" than are those of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a vocal supporter of Mousavi's and critic of Ahmadinejad.
Still, he did chastise Ahmadinejad's supporters for a violent raid on university dormitories. "Have you calculated the impact of going to the dormitories in the name of the leader," he asked. "Muscle-flexing after elections is not right. Put an end to this."
As Khamenei stepped up on the platform, thousands of men in the pavilion waved their fists in the air, shouting "the blood in our veins is a gift to our leader." Iran's highest officials, including senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, sat crossed legged on green carpets in front of the stage. Ahmadinejad entered moments before the speech, drawing cheers, and he was offered an honorary seat to pray right behind Khamenei. Mousavi was not present.
The banners hanging from the pavilion roof sported slogans such as "Don't speak to us with the tongue of old imperialism, BBC" and "Westerners get away from us."
The election results have generated complaints from some political leaders in Europe, but Khamenei said they are hoping in vain that the protests will prompt a second revolution in Iran along the lines of the countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.
In Washington, President Obama has repeatedly denied that the United States is "meddling" in Iranian politics, and he has been criticized in Washington for not speaking out more forcefully on behalf of the Iranian demonstrators.
But in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Obama said that "when you've got 100,000 people who are out on the streets peacefully protesting, and they're having to be scattered through violence and gunshots, what that tells me is the Iranian people are not convinced of the legitimacy of the election. And my hope is that the regime responds not with violence, but with a recognition that the universal principles of peaceful expression and democracy are ones that should be affirmed."
Khamenei compared Obama's comments about Iran to the tragic conclusion of the Branch Davidian standoff with federal agents in Waco, Tex., during President Bill Clinton's administration. The leader of that group, David Koresh, and at least 74 supporters died in a fire at their compound. A federal probe concluded that the Davidians committed suicide but survivors had said it was started by tear gas rounds fired by government agents into the buildings.
"People affiliated with the Davidians were burned alive," he said. "You were responsible -- the Democrats. The administration was angered and 80 were burned. And do you know the true meaning of human rights? The Islamic Republic of Iran is the flag bearer of human rights. We defend the oppressed."