Iran's supreme leader declares: The vote stands

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he won't bow to pressure. Meanwhile, state-backed media denounce the West and the crackdown on Mousavi supporters continues.
By Ramin Mostaghim

7:48 AM PDT, June 24, 2009

Reporting from Tehran — Iran's supreme leader vowed today he would neither reconsider vote results nor bow to public pressure over the disputed reelection of his ally President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as state-controlled broadcasting intensified a media blitz against the West.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate political and military authority, decried "lawlessness" after demonstrators took to the streets to dispute Ahmadinejad's reelection in a vote they and most independent analysts considered out of sync with previous voting patterns and Iran's demographics.

"Once lawlessness becomes a norm, things will be complicated and the interests of people will be undermined," Khamenei said after a meeting with lawmakers, according to state television.

"Everyone should respect the law," he said. "Even in the case of the recent incidents, I have been, still am and will continue to be insisting on the implementation of the law. . . . Certainly, neither the system nor the people will yield to pressure under any circumstances."

Using batons, tear gas and huge contingents of uniformed and plainclothes security forces, Iran has beaten back its greatest domestic challenge in 30 years as a dispute over the election sharply divided both society and the establishment into two camps: supporters of Ahmadinejad and those backing his challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Mousavi's wife, scholar Zahra Rahnavard, said today on one of his websites that it was "as if martial law has been imposed in the street," according to the Associated Press.

The Guardian Council, the country's constitutional watchdog, said it would conclude its probe of the fraud allegations by Monday.

A sweeping crackdown on dissident journalists, activists and those close to Mousavi continues. The intelligence division of the Tehran police today announced a raid on a building in the city center used as a "headquarters" for the opposition. "After scrutinizing the building, which was the campaign office of a presidential candidate, it was discovered that the organization of illegal gatherings, the promotion of unrest and efforts to undermine the country's security were carried out from the building," said a statement issued by the police, according to the website of Iran's state-owned Press TV website.

With relative quiet on the streets, state broadcasting has begun flooding airwaves with programming alleging that the recent unrest, which included days of massive protests and feverish rioting against the election results, were the work of Iran's Western enemies, especially Britain.

State television scoffed at statements President Obama made condemning the violence against protesters but maintaining that the U.S. did not wish to interfere in Iranian affairs. "The president of America once again supported the agitators inside Iran last night," said a news announcer. "Of course, the president of America says that these remarks are not tantamount to meddling in internal Iranian affairs. But in conjunction with the Americans, the Israelis are also pursuing the objective of agitation too."

State television broadcast a documentary extolling the virtues and accomplishments of the country's Revolutionary Guard, narrated by a man in military uniform in what many considered a sign of the military elite force's consolidation of power over the traditional clergy.

Another show highlighted the dangers of the Internet, alleging that the West was using the Web to spread propaganda and sow discord.

Iran's intelligence minister, Gholamhossein Mohsen-Ezhei, announced that British passport holders had been arrested in the recent unrest. The foreign ministry announced that it was recalling its envoy to London.

Interior minister Sadeq Mahsuli, a wealthy ally of Ahmadinejad, alleged that opposition groups abroad were fomenting the disturbances, which have left up to 100 dead nationwide. Mahsuli accused the Paris-based Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization and the ethnic Baluchi militant group Jundullah as well as "Los Angeles-based groups supported by the CIA" as behind the rallies.

He also issued a stern warning to Mousavi, who has called on his supporters to continue peaceful protests.

"Those who encourage people to take part in illegal rallies must be made accountable for the recent incidents and the spilled blood," said Mahsuli, whose appointment as interior minister earlier this year fueled suspicions that Ahmadinejad was planning to cheat in the elections.

In a blow to opposition claims of large-scale voting irregularities, conservative Mohsen Rezai, who also ran against Ahmadinejad in the elections, withdrew his complaints about the vote, Press TV reported. Earlier, he said he received at least half as many votes as he should have gotten.

The current "political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase, which is more important than the election," Rezai said in a letter to the Guardian Council, headed by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a close ally of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad.
source:
From the Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-vote25-2009jun25,0,4120877.story