Iran's Supreme Leader Warns of Protest Crackdown

[tekisui]

Source: AP

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's supreme leader said Friday that the country's disputed presidential vote had not been rigged, sternly warning protesters of a crackdown if they continue massive demonstrations demanding a new election.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sided with hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and offered no concessions to the opposition. He effectively closed any chance for a new vote by calling the June 12 election an "absolute victory."

The speech created a stark choice for candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters: Drop their demands for a new vote or take to the streets again in blatant defiance of the man endowed with virtually limitless powers under Iran's constitution.

Khamenei accused foreign media and Western countries of trying to create a political rift and stir up chaos in Iran.

"Some of our enemies in different parts of the world intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory," he said. "It is your victory. They cannot manipulate it."

Khamenei said the 11 million votes that separated Ahmadinejad from his top opponent, Mousavi, were proof that fraud did not occur. Ahmadinejad watched the sermon from the front row. State television did not show Mousavi in attendance.

"If the difference was 100,000 or 500,000 or 1 million, well, one may say fraud could have happened. But how can one rig 11 million votes?" Khamenei asked during Friday prayers at Tehran University.

Mousavi and his supporters have staged massive street rallies in recent days that have posed the greatest challenge to the Iran's Islamic ruling system since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought it to power.

So far, the government has not stopped the protests with force despite an official ban on them. But Khamenei opened the door for harsher measures.

"It must be determined at the ballot box what the people want and what they don't want, not in the streets," he said. "I call on all to put an end to this method. ... If they don't, they will be held responsible for the chaos and the consequences."

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090619/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election

[tekisui]

1. Iran is about to enter a new phase in the demonstrations.

It seems the supreme leader has had enough. Will the protests be stopped? Militarily?

[Warpy]

3. The crackdown is likely to be vicious

and I do fear for the safety of the best and the brightest there, people who are supporting the demonstrations.

I'm reading a lot of fatalism in their posts. They know some of them will likely be killed, but they've come too far to back down.

After the crackdown, some cosmetic reforms will likely occur as the regime loses more support from people disgusted by overreaction and tries to woo them back.

Of course, the other alternative is that the demonstrators themselves turn violent and the regime is forcibly ousted, but I honestly don't see that happening yet.

[RandomThoughts]

2. Always bothers me when

people assign blame on those speaking up, and not the 'wrongs' done that they speak up about. If chaos is caused, it is not protesters fault, it is the fault of the situation that led them to protest. I mention this because the US has had the same issue. But we didn't do anything about it and really have been paying for that mistake.

That so reminds me of Bush Propaganda.


But if a society does not want problems after an election, they should have really strong fraud proof election systems, (unlike the electronic ones still in the US), and have observers. Unless people do not want democracy, which is often the case in many regimes.

There is a higher authority that holds people to account on things like violence also.