| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Fearless Leader labels unrest as enemy meddling | |
| 2009-06-20 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the country's worst unrest in decades as "enemy" interference and warned that protests and riots would not be tolerated in his first speech Friday since the disputed elections that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win a second four-year term. After a week of protests, Khamenei denied accusations that the elections were rigged and labelled Ahmadinejad the "absolute" winner of 24.5 million out of 40 million votes and said the 11 million-vote margin shows the result was accurate. Tens of thousands of people gathered at Tehran University where Khamenei warned that "street protests are not acceptable" and urged those who want to pursue complaints to do so from within the system. "It would be wrong to think that turning out on the street would be a way to force officials to accept your demands," he warned, adding protests "challenge democracy," in light of the worst mass protests in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Khamenei accused "agents" of the West and Zionism of operating inside Iran and said they were the ones who started the riots in which cars were burned and property damaged as well as killing eight people. Hours after Khamenei's speech, the United Kingdom summoned its Iranian ambassador to complain about the speech in which the leader labeled Britain "the most evil" of Iran's enemies and European Union leaders called on the republic to allow peaceful protests. Zionist meddling
"All the candidates support the state," the leader said, despite the fact there was no sign of reformist candidates Mir Hossien Mousavi or Mehdi Karroubi or former premier Mohammad Khatami. The only candidate present was Ahmedinejad's conservative rival Mohsen Rezai. The leader also addressed Ahmadinejad's' recent scathing remarks of former president and current chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Hashemi Rafsanjani, and said he has not been accused of financial corruption, a reference to the incumbent's accusations during electoral debates that Rafsanjani was involved in corruption and fraud. With regards to U.S. criticism of the heavy-handed police tactics being used on protestors, Khamenei sarcastically noted Iran did not need human rights advice from those are not even concerned about human rights. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 those who voted for this clown to absolve for sins committed some generations ago didn't realized that with it came the inability to criticize this man for even the most egregious blunders. Example, he's praised for not meddling in Iran's affairs, but if he would have utter praise for the democratic movement, he would have been praised for that too. |
| Posted by: jack salami 2009-06-20 12:50 |