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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Inte'l Minister details Iran election dossier |
| 2009-07-19 |
| Iran's Intelligence Minister provides his views on the post-election events, and seeks to explain the role of both domestic and foreign elements in creating the unrest. In Friday comments, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i claimed that close aides to the defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi knew that he would lose the presidential race so they tampered with the election polls prior to the June 12 vote. "The balance tilted heavily in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from June 3 onwards in such a way that some key members of Mir-Hossein [Mousavi]'s campaign were sure of his defeat," he said. "But, they would, by no means, allow Mir-Hossein to know the situation. To keep up his morale, they even tampered with the opinion polls," he added. According to the minister, the president's provincial visits had compelled Mousavi's supporters to relinquish the idea that the former premier would win the elections - an idea that they had formed after some of the candidate's provincial campaign tours. "Three days prior to the elections, when they were sure of Mousavi's defeat, they started a series of activities such as creating doubt about vote rigging," said Mohseni-Eje'i. "On the Wednesday and Thursday leading up to the elections, they reached the conclusion that they must disrupt the atmosphere by presenting the idea of vote rigging. And they kick-started the plan straight after the elections," he added. Mohseni-Eje'i went on to add that the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei met with some of figures who had objections to the election results "modestly and from a completely caring stance," and asked them to say whatever they pleased without any restraints. "[In the meeting], those individuals made some rude and insolent remarks. The Leader listened to their comments and advised them, but they continued to pursue their illegal path," he explained. The Intelligence Minister said that those who had tried to imply that the 'Republic' aspect of the government had been undermined must answer to the nation and God for their actions. Mohseni-Eje'i also accused the influential Iranian cleric and politician Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani of trying to prevent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection. "One of Hashemi-Rafsanjani's top priorities was to prevent Ahmadinejad from winning the elections, and a long line of Ahmadinejad opponents was formed wherein certain individuals and groups sought the same goal for various motives," he said. The minister counted the following as some of the alliances that had lined up against Ahmadinejad: "-United States of America, Israel, and several Western countries,"All these [groups] did not want to see Ahmadinejad in the presidential race. And for some people like Hashemi-Rafsanjani Ahmadinejad's defeat was a top priority," he said The Intelligence Minister further accused the West of trying to "infiltrate" the Islamic Republic and "turn into an empty skin" through "soft measures." "After failing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and their other attempts [to topple Iran's government], they found that they could by no means gain dominance over Iran through military means or economic sanctions," he explained. He even said that Israel had tried to assassinate President Ahmadinejad with the help of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) and other terrorist groups active in Iran's eastern regions. "The Zionist regime had met with the MKO on the sidelines of the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting in Egypt and in Paris to assassinate Mr. Ahmadinejad," said Mohseni-Ejeie. The MKO had said, however, that they would only cooperate if the US and the West remove their name from their terrorist blacklists, he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |