DTN News: American Planes For Iranian Peace?

DTN News: American Planes For Iranian Peace?

*Iranian media say the United States offered 20 Boeing aircraft in an attempt to soothe Tehran amid an impasse on its nuclear programme. And though it might never have happened, it quickly inflamed the republic’s hardliners.

*Source: DTN News / The National By Maryam Sinaiee, Foreign Correspondent

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - September 15, 2009: An unconfirmed Iranian report claims the US has offered to sell 20 new Boeing aircraft and aeroplane parts worth $2.5 billion (Dh9bn) to Iran as a show of good will in order to put an end to the long-running disputes over Iranian assets frozen in the US and encourage direct talks with the US. US offered 20 Boeing aircraft in an attempt to soothe Tehran amid an impasse on its nuclear programme. “The messages from the US president to Iran about delivering the planes were sent after the finalisation of the results of the presidential elections,” Fars News Agency on Saturday quoted an “informed source” as saying.The source also told Fars News Agency that some of the aircraft and spare parts were being delivered to Iran through Venezuela. The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, visited Tehran for a second time after Iran’s June presidential elections last week during which he met with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The planes and spare parts are to be paid for from the Iranian assets in the US that were frozen nearly 30 years ago following the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran by radical students, the source claimed. Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, the head of the Civil Aviation Organisation, however, was quoted by Mehr News Agency on Saturday as denying that there had been any proposal to sell aircraft to Iran. Yesterday, the organisation’s spokesman, Reza Jafarzadeh, was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying that his organisation had yet not received any “orders or reports about the details of [the US] pledge to deliver the aircraft” and declined to make any further comments regarding the subject. Whether or not the US puts an end to its embargo on Iran’s aviation industry by delivering new aircraft to replace its dilapidated fleet, does not seem to convince Iran’s hardliners of American good will towards Iran. “The US statesmen and President Obama himself should not doubt even for a minute that the Iranian nation and officials are not prepared as much as a grain to make any concessions regarding their four preconditions [for starting direct talks],” the hardline Jomhuri Eslami newspaper wrote in an editorial yesterday, while saying the number of planes involved was 16. The editorial said the conditions required for rapprochement with the US included an apology for interfering in Iranian affairs during the 25 years before the Islamic Revolution and for supporting the Shah, a pledge not to interfere in Iran’s affairs, the release of the frozen Iranian assets in the US and a pledge not to interfere with Iran’s nuclear activities or its relationship with the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Mr Obama has resorted to such a scheme probably because of Iran’s need to [have new] passenger planes and thinks that with this candy stick he can sweeten the mouths of Iranian officials and gobble up $12 billion of the assets of the Iranian nation,” the paper wrote.Iran continues to demand that the nuclear issue be excluded from talks with the United States and other western powers.“The Iranians have a responsibility to the international community to walk away from their illicit nuclear weapons programme and that will be the focus from the US side in talks,” the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on Saturday while welcoming Iran’s agreement to sit down to direct talks with the six world powers. “This may not have been a topic they wanted to be brought up, but I can assure you it’s a topic that we’ll bring up,” Mr Gibbs added. “That’s our goal.” The remarks were made only a few hours after Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said there was a possibility of talks with western powers based on the contents of Iran’s package of proposals, “should conditions be ripe”, and his avowal that no compromise was to be made regarding the country’s uranium enrichment programme. President Ahmadinejad reiterated yesterday that Iran does not intend to talk to the West about anything other than what was listed in Iran’s five-page proposal for talks last week. “Iran will not negotiate about its inalienable right, but we are prepared to talk about international co-operation for solving global economic and security issues and believe these problems cannot be resolved without participation of everyone,” he said during a ceremony held to receive the credentials of Simon Gass, the new British ambassador to Tehran. Yesterday, the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said Ankara was ready to host talks between Iran and world powers on Tehran’s latest proposal. According to a press release from Iran’s National Security Council quoted by IRNA, Mr Davutoglu made the offer during his meeting with Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator.The minister, who was wrapping up a two-day visit, hoped the negotiations would start “as soon as possible and said Turkey is ready to host the talks”, the statement issued after he met Mr Jalili said. The Iranian package presented to the six world powers – the UN, US, Britain, China, France and Germany – proposes talks on global nuclear disarmament among other things, but makes no reference to any discussion about the country’s uranium enrichment programme.

DTN News: Cracks In Iranian Leadership Showing

DTN News: Cracks In Iranian Leadership Showing *Reform Movement Aims to Weaken an Already Nervous and Divided Regime in Wake of Disputed Election

*Source: DTN News / CBS By Elizabeth Palmer (NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, USA - August 4, 2009: (CBS) Hoping to lift the curtain on a new political chapter, Iran's supreme leader today endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second presidential term - but cracks in the leadership are showing, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kisses Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after receiving a certificate declaring him as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran from Khamenei in Tehran August 3, 2009. Iran's supreme leader formally approved the second term presidency of Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that leading reformists say was rigged to ensure the incumbent's victory.

Several prominent clergy boycotted the ceremony and the supreme leader avoided Ahmadinejad's move to kiss his hand, as is customary - leading to an awkward peck on the shoulder instead.

Over the weekend the regime staged another unconvincing show - a mass trial of about 100 prominent reformists, arrested after the disputed election in June - including Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a cleric and former vice president whom CBS News first spoke to in 2005 about his liberal blogging.

On Saturday, Abtahi appeared gaunt and agitated after six weeks in jail. He's just one of thousands arrested during post-election riots and protests - including students, lawyers and peaceful demonstrators.

Human rights groups agree more than 300 remain in detention. At least 30 are dead - like 19-year-old student protestor Sohrab Aarabi. The fate of an American scholar Kian Tajbaksh - and many others - remains unknown. "My heart goes out to everybody," said Princeton academic Haleh Esfandiari.

Esfandiari - who spent three months in a Tehran jail in 2007 - knows what those detained are facing. "I was alone in the cell 24 hours a day by myself - lights on all the time," Esfandiari said. "I was allowed out one or two hours a day."

But all the repression and arrests haven't crushed Iran's reform movement, which is planning more protests in the days to come - aiming to weaken an already nervous and divided regime.

DTN News: Iran Daily Slams Rafsanjani Querying Poll Result

DTN News: Iran Daily Slams Rafsanjani Querying Poll Result *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - July 18, 2009: A leading hardline Iranian newspaper slammed ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Saturday for casting doubt on the outcome of last month's presidential election a month after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed it. Protesters attend a rally in Tehran July 17, 2009 in this image obtained from Gooya News. In apparent defiance of Iran's supreme leader, a powerful cleric declared his country in crisis after a disputed poll, and tens of thousands of protesters used Friday prayers to stage the biggest show of dissent for weeks. Clashes erupted in central Tehran between police and followers of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, who still contests official results that showed hardline President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had been re-elected by a wide margin. The Kayhan daily, whose editor is appointed by Khamenei, accused Rafsanjani of backing lawbreaking through his implicit support for the demonstrators who have clashed repeatedly with riot police and militiamen since the June 12 vote. "Mr. Rafsanjani says a great number of people cast doubt on the election. But he doesn't say why," the newspaper said. "If people have a suspicion, it is about... what's behind the riots," it added, in an allusion to accusations by regime hardliners that foreign hands have been behind the wave of protests that saw thousands take to the streets again on Friday after Rafsanjani's sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers. Kayhan accused the former president of "repeating illogical and baseless claims" of fraud in the official election results which saw hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned to power for a second four-year term. Rafsanjani had told worshippers: "A large group of... people in the country say they have doubts" about the election result. "We should work to address these doubts." With reformist Mohammad Khatami, Rafsanjani is one of two former presidents who supported Ahmadinejad's main challenger, moderate former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, in the election. Mousavi, who was at Tehran university to hear Rafsanjani's sermon, has described the vote as a "shameful fraud." Rafsanjani's continued questioning of the election outcome weeks after the supreme leader endorsed it in a sermon at the same Tehran prayers on June 19 was a mark of the huge rift opened up within the Islamic regime. But Kayhan took issue with the former president's description of the situation as a "crisis." "Mr Hashemi knows what crisis means... but plot is the best word to describe the current situation," the paper said. Rafsanjani, who remains powerful as the head of Iran's main political arbitration body and the chairman of the council which oversees the work of the supreme leader, had called in his sermon for all sides to forge a consensus on how to resolve the "crisis" over the election. "If we can provide a consensus, then this sermon will be the beginning of a change in the future. We will leave behind this problem which we can say is a crisis," he said. But a prominent cleric who is a member of the electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, which upheld the poll result, rebuked Rafsanjani for his focus on popular legitimacy. "The legitimacy of the government is given by God," the ISNA news agency quoted Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi as saying. "Acceptance by the people doesn't bring legitimacy to (an Islamic) government. Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani ignored this important Islamic point and talked in both parts of his sermon yesterday as if governments are assigned only by the people." Thousands of supporters of Ahmadinejad's defeated challengers defied a ban on unauthorised public gatherings to demonstrate around Tehran University after Rafsanjani's sermon. They were confronted by riot police and militia, who detained several people, including leading lawyer and women's rights campaigner, Shadi Sadr, witnesses said. Foreign media were banned from covering the prayers, something that Rafsanjani took issue with in his sermon. Kayhan accused Rafsanjani of backing the protests, which regime hardliners say have left at least 20 people dead and many scores wounded. The former president "openly backed lawbreakers," the newspaper charged. "He should have condemned the killing of innocent people, the looting of their belongings and the arson against public property. But he did not."

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 28, 2009 - Iran 'Must Free UK Embassy Staff'

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 28, 2009 - Iran 'Must Free UK Embassy Staff'

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) BRUSSELS - June 28, 2009: The European Union has demanded the immediate release of Iranian staff at Britain's embassy in Tehran detained on Saturday over post-election unrest. EU ministers meeting in Greece warned that "harassment or intimidation" of embassy staff would be met with a "strong and collective" response. Britain's Foreign Minister David Miliband looks on ahead of an European Union Foreign Ministers meeting on Iran in Corfu June 28, 2009. Britain on Sunday demanded the release of Iranian employees of the British embassy in Tehran and denied that the mission had been involved in any post-election unrest. Iranian media reported that eight local staff at the UK mission had been held for their role in the recent riots. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed the allegations as baseless. Relations between the countries are strained after President Ahmadinejad accused the UK of stoking post-election protests, which London denies. Iran has repeatedly accused foreign powers - especially Britain and the US - of meddling after the 12 June election, which handed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a decisive victory. In the fallout of the crisis, Tehran expelled two British diplomats in the past week, and the UK has responded with a similar measure. Strained relations Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of European foreign ministers on the Greek island of Corfu, Mr Miliband said: "The idea that the British Embassy is somehow behind the demonstrations and protests that have been taking place in Tehran in recent weeks is wholly without foundation." Tehran has blamed the US and UK for post-election unrest. In a later statement, the EU ministers said: "Harassment or intimidation of foreign or Iranian staff working in embassies will be met with a strong and collective EU response." The arrests were first reported by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency. "Eight local employees at the British embassy who had a considerable role in recent unrest were taken into custody," Fars said, without giving a source. Some 17 people are thought to have died in street protests after the disputed presidential poll, which the opposition complains was rigged. Rafsanjani breaks silence Meanwhile, Iran's powerful Guardian Council was due to rule on complaints about the presidential election. Jeremy Bowen BBC News, Tehran Iran's response to criticism from abroad of the violent response to the demonstrations has been to blame foreign powers for inciting and orchestrating violence. Britain has been singled out as the country most responsible for what has happened, aided by the BBC. On Saturday President Ahmadinejad made a strong speech about what Iran claims has been foreign interference in the election. He said that his new government would have a more decisive and powerful approach towards the west. The arrests fit into a pattern of deteriorating relations between Britain and Iran. Two British diplomats were expelled last week, and the British retaliated by expelling two Iranians from their embassy in London. It was never certain that would be the end of the matter. Mr Ahmadinejad's rivals have alleged massive fraud. The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Tehran says there is much politicking taking place behind the scenes, and that the five-day deadline for the Guardian Council to return its verdict may be extended. The powerful former President, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has broken his silence on the election dispute. Mr Rafsanjani, who heads two important organs of government, praised a decision by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to give the Guardian Council time to examine complaints by the three defeated candidates. "This valuable move by the Supreme Leader in order to attract the people's trust towards the election process was very effective," Mr Rafsanjani said, according to Iranian news agencies. "I hope those who are involved in this issue thoroughly and fairly review and study the legal complaints," he said. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has not backed away from his claim that the election result was fraudulent, and has refused to support the Guardian Council's plan for a partial recount. Mr Mousavi has been calling for a full re-run of the vote, but said on Saturday that he would accept a review by an independent body. However the Guardian Council has already defended President Ahmadinejad's re-election, saying on Friday that the presidential poll was the "healthiest" since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 26, 2009 - Iranian Cleric ~ Protesters At War With God / Iranian Cleric Says "Rioters" Should Be Executed

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 26, 2009 - Iranian Cleric ~ Protesters At War With God / Iranian Cleric Says "Rioters" Should Be Executed *Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media / AP (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 26, 2009: A senior Iranian cleric has called on the government to punish the leaders of the country's post-election protests cruelly and without mercy. In a sermon at Tehran University on Friday, Ahmad Khatami described the demonstrators as rioters who wage war against God ("moharem"), a crime in Islamic law, punishable by death. He also accused foreign journalists of instigating the protests. The street demonstrations that took place nearly every day since the election have largely subsided due to a heavy police presence. But on Friday groups of Iranians visited a Tehran cemetery to pay tribute to a young woman named Neda (Aghad Soltan). (Aforementioned photo: Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami delivers Friday prayer sermon, at Tehran University campus, 26 Jun 2009) The opposition says she was killed by Iranian security forces during the demonstrations, and a video of her death on the street in Tehran was widely circulated. Meanwhile, the relatives of citizens detained by authorities sent a letter to the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi, and Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani, expressing concern for the detainees' well-being. The letter says they are concerned the detainees, who include prominent reformist politicians, are being pressured to confess to crimes. Iranian authorities have arrested hundreds of people since the election. On Friday, Iran's Guardian Council rejected allegations of fraud, calling the disputed June 12 presidential election the cleanest vote the country has ever had. The official IRNA news agency said the Guardian Council found no major violations in the vote which declared incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner by a large margin. Both the Guardian Council and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have said the results will not be annulled.Defeated presidential candidate and reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi vowed on Thursday to resist pressure to end his challenge of the election outcome. He also urged supporters to continue protests in a way that will not create tension. With the post-election demonstrations, Iran has seen the largest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran's crackdown has included heavy restrictions on reporting and the arrest of university professors, journalists and ordinary citizens. The official death toll from post-election violence is 17, but witnesses say it is much higher. State media reported Thursday that eight members of the pro-government Basij militia also were killed.

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 25, 2009 ~ Part #2- Iranian MPs 'Snub' President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Poll Party

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 25, 2009 ~ Part #2- Iranian MPs 'Snub' President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Poll Party

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 25, 2009: More than 180 Iranian MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say. All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night, but only 105 turned up, the reports say. A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls. Meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinejad has told the US not to interfere in Iranian politics, the Fars news agency reports. "I hope you [US President Barack Obama] will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express regret in a way that the Iranian people are informed of it," he was quoted as saying. President Obama on Tuesday said he strongly condemned the "unjust" violence used on protesters. There are signs the government is beginning to regain control. Wednesday appears to have had the least protests of any day since the result was announced. But any idea that the opposition is about to go gently is probably an illusion. This is an argument within Iran about the future of the country. The two sides have deeply differing views on how Iran should be run, and its place in the world. And neither is about to give ground. Separately, key protest leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said on his website that he was facing "recent pressures" to withdraw his election challenge. "Access to people is completely restricted", the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying. Earlier, his website said 70 university professors were arrested immediately after meeting Mr Mousavi on Wednesday, and it was not clear where they had been taken. Hundreds of opposition protesters and activists are believed to have been taken into custody and at least 17 people have died in the unrest that followed the 12 June election. Severe reporting restrictions imposed on foreign media in Iran mean the BBC cannot verify the reports. The Washington Times on Thursday said one of its freelance reporters, Jason Fowden, who has British and Greek nationality, was arrested at the airport as he tried to leave the country at the end of last week. British officials said they were working with the Greek foreign ministry on the case. Heavy security About 50 MPs in the Iranian parliament are reformist and would not have been expected to attend Mr Ahmadinejad's party. One of those who reportedly did not attend is Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, a high-profile figure who shares some of Mr Ahmadinejad's hardline views but has been critical of some aspects of the government's handling of the protests. The high number of other MPs who stayed away is another indication that the disputed election has split the nation, says the BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Tehran. An earlier BBC report wrongly said that 105 MPs did not turn up. It should have said that only 105 attended. IRAN UNREST 12 June Presidential election saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected with 63% of vote Main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called for result to be annulled on grounds of electoral fraud Street protests saw at least 17 people killed and foreign media restricted The opposition has vowed to continue with its legal challenges over the election result, which saw Mr Ahamadinejad declared an easy winner. Mr Mousavi, his nearest rival, alleges the election was rigged and wants a re-run. But time and options are running out for the opposition, says our correspondent. The Guardian Council, which supervises elections, is expected to follow the line laid down by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and say the result will stand, our correspondent adds. Ayatollah Khamenei said again on Wednesday he would "not yield" over the election result. Hours later, riot police were reported to have clashed again with demonstrators who defied government decrees to stop the street protests. Witnesses said they saw police beat protesters with batons, fire tear gas and shoot into the air to disperse the crowds in central Tehran. But Wednesday's protest was smaller than on previous days amid an increasingly heavy security presence on the streets. Reformist election candidate Mehdi Karoubi on Thursday called off a planned ceremony to mourn those killed in the protests, saying he had been unable to get permission for it. Diplomatic row Iran has accused foreign governments of inflaming the protests. President Ahmadinejad said US President Obama "made a mistake" with his comments about the crackdown in Iran. "Our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously [former US President George W] Bush used to say," he was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying. On Wednesday, Washington said it had rescinded invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend US 4 July celebrations held by embassies around the world. A White House spokesman said Iranians had not replied anyway, but it was described by the BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington as the first concrete step taken by the Obama administration in protest at the crackdown in Iran. Also on Wednesday, Tehran said it was considering downgrading ties with Britain, after expelling two diplomats the previous day for "activities incompatible with their status". The UK later announced that two Iranian diplomats were being sent home in retaliation.

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 25, 2009 - Iran Police Use Tear Gas, Clubs To Crush Protest

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 25, 2009 - Iran Police Use Tear Gas, Clubs To Crush Protest *Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 25, 2009: Riot police blocked protesters from gathering in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran's supreme leader warned he will not back down in the face of unrest following the disputed presidential vote. "In the recent incidents concerning the election, I have been insisting on the implementation of the law and I will be (insisting). Neither the system, nor the people will back down under force," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressing Iranian MPs beneath a portrait of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeni during a meeting in Tehran on June 24, 2009. Khamenei warned that the regime would not back down in the face of opposition protests over the disputed presidential vote, amid soaring tensions between Tehran and the West. It was the latest indication that the clerical regime will not brook dissent over the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad despite a wave of public demonstrations and complaints that the June 12 election was rigged. And in a sign security forces are wasting no time to put down protests, a large presence of riot police and Islamist Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside the Iranian parliament building, according to a witness. Another witness near parliament reported seeing police charge at passers by, who dispersed into nearby streets. Later in the evening a big squad of riot police remained deployed in the area, a source said. In the latest diplomatic backlash over what Iran has branded Western meddling, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran may downgrade ties with Britain. His comments came after the two governments expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, with Tehran increasingly pointing the finger at London over the street violence that erupted in the aftermath of the election. Tehran has accused Britain -- described by Khameini as the "most evil" of Iran's enemies -- of plotting against the election and seeking to stabilise the country. It has expelled the BBC correspondent in Tehran and arrested a British-Greek journalist working for a US newspaper, one of at least two foreign reporters detained by the authorities. Iran's interior minister also took aim at the United States, saying rioters were being funded by the CIA and the exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen. Iran has refused to overturn the results of the poll but Khamenei -- who has ruled over the Islamic republic for 20 years -- has extended by five days a Wednesday deadline to examine vote complaints. The authorities have also intensified a crackdown on opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, with the arrest of 25 staff at his newspaper and vitriolic attacks from the hardline press. Another defeated candidate, former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai, has withdrawn his protest about election irregularities, in a blow to the opposition.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waits to meet with Speaker of the upper house of the Belarussian parliament Barys Batura (not seen) in Tehran on June 24, 2009. Iran faced mounting international pressure after US President Barack Obama raised "significant questions" about the legitimacy of the presidential election and expressed outrage over the crackdown on opposition protesters. "(Iran's) 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 Guardians Council, the top election body. Mousavi, who was premier in the post-revolution era, has urged supporters to keep demonstrating but to use "self-restraint" to avoid further bloodshed while another defeated candidate Mehdi Karroubi has called for a mourning ceremony on Thursday for slain protesters. The Revolutionary Guards, the elite force set up to protect the Islamic republic, has warned of a "decisive and revolutionary" riposte to any further protests. The last opposition rally on Monday was crushed by hundreds of riot police armed with steel clubs and firing tear gas. The foreign media is banned from reporting from the streets under tight restrictions imposed since the unrest was unleashed, but images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet. At least 17 people have been killed and many more wounded in the worst unrest since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago which has jolted the pillars of the clerical regime. US President Barack Obama, who has called for dialogue with Iran after three decades of severed ties, said on Tuesday there were "significant questions about the legitimacy" of the poll but insisted Washington was not interfering. "The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days." Many hundreds of protesters, prominent reformists and journalists have been rounded up by the authorities, including some people close to top regime officials such as former president Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. An Iranian Air Force F-5E fighter plane takes off during manoeuvres in southern Iran June 24, 2009. The Guardians Council, a 12-member unelected body of Islamic clerics and jurists, insisted on Tuesday the election results would stand. "We witnessed no major fraud or breach," spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said. "Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place." However, Mousavi's campaign office released a report listing "electoral fraud and irregularities" in the poll that gave him just 34 percent of the vote to 63 percent for Ahmadinejad. It denounced what it said was "large-scale" official support for Ahmadinejad and spoke of ballot papers being printed on polling day without serial numbers, doubts about whether ballot boxes were empty when they arrived at polling stations and candidates' representatives being banned from vote centres. Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European parliament said he hopes to lead a delegation of European deputies to Iran to study an election which appears to be "a massive fraud". "I will recommend to the European parliament political groups to send a delegation of the European parliament as quickly as possible to Tehran," Poettering said after meeting Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 23, 2009 - Iran Says Courts Will Teach Protesters A Lesson And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 23, 2009 - Iran Says Courts Will Teach Protesters A Lesson And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 23, 2009: Iran's judiciary will teach those arrested during protests over the disputed presidential election a lesson, an official said, after riot police broke up the latest demonstration in Tehran. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi speaks to reporters in a press conference in Tehran, on June 22, 2009. Iran's foreign ministry blasted the BBC and Voice of America, accusing them of aiming to disintegrate the Islamic republic by their coverage of deadly street protests sparked by the results of the June 12 election which saw hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returning to power. Hundreds of people have been detained during protests sparked by official results of Iran's June 12 election showing hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by a landslide. Two defeated candidates -- former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi and pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi -- have called for the election to be canceled, citing irregularities. Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, on Tuesday again ruled out annulment of the election saying there had been no major polling irregularities. State television said more than 450 people were detained during clashes with police in Tehran on Saturday in which at least 10 people were killed. Iranian demonstrators hold up a placard showing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a protest against the recent Iranian elections, outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 22, 2009. A video of a blood-drenched young woman named Neda, purportedly killed in the Tehran protests, has become an Internet symbol of the demonstrations and heightened pressure on Iran in its battle with foreign media. The video, showing blood pouring from the nose and mouth of the young woman, was placed online Saturday and has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times around the world. "Those arrested in recent events will be dealt with in a way that will teach them a lesson," the official IRNA news agency quoted senior judiciary official Ebrahim Raisi as saying on state television late on Monday. He said a special court was studying the cases. "The rioters should be dealt with in an exemplary way and the judiciary will do that," Raisi said. Iranian police broke up a protest in Tehran and the hardline Revolutionary Guards said they would help crush what they called rioters opposing the re-election of Ahmadinejad. In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged an immediate stop to the use of force against civilians and said Iran should respect civil rights in dealing with protests. A picture obtained on June 23, 2009 shows Iranian riot policemen patrolling a street in Tehran on June 22, 2009. Iran was bracing for pro-government student protests against the British embassy in Tehran on June 23 as the world voiced increasing alarm at the violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators. People in Tehran, in a gesture of defiance first used in the 1979 Islamic revolution and now adopted by pro-reform protesters, again chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) from their rooftops at nightfall on Monday. Witnesses said supporters of Mousavi had earlier gathered in Tehran's Haft-e Tir square. Iran's state Press TV channel said they were dispersed. Residents said riot police, some on motorbikes, and members of the religious Basij militia were out in force. One witness said that from his balcony he had seen a group of protesters chanting slogans being attacked by the Basij, who dragged the demonstrators out of a house to which they had fled.

A picture obtained on June 23, 2009 shows members of Iran's Islamic Basij militia patrolling a street in Tehran on June 22, 2009. Iran was bracing for pro-government student protests against the British embassy in Tehran on June 23 as the world voiced increasing alarm at the violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators.

"The Basiji were really aggressive and swearing at me to go inside," said the witness, who declined to be identified. "I was scared they were going to break into my house too." The statement on Monday by the Revolutionary Guards, viewed as the most loyal guardians of the ruling clerical establishment, signaled a crackdown on any new unrest in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. "In the current sensitive situation ... the Guards will firmly confront in a revolutionary way rioters and those who violate the law," said a statement on the Guards' website. Iranian state television on Tuesday said Tehran had been calm for a second night. "The presence of police and Basij forces in parts of the city has raised people's feeling of security," IRIB said. Mousavi called on Sunday for new protests by his supporters. U.N. REACTION A U.N. statement issued by Ban's office said he urged "the authorities to respect fundamental civil and political rights, especially the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of information." Ban called on the Iranian government and the opposition to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue and legal means. A picture obtained on June 23, 2009 shows a riot policman supervising traffic in a street in Tehran on June 22, 2009. Iran was bracing for pro-government student protests against the British embassy in Tehran on June 23 as the world voiced increasing alarm at the violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators. Iranian authorities have accused Western powers of supporting the protests, the most widespread since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and have not ruled out expulsions of some European ambassadors. Sweden, the European Union's next president, said the bloc's members should consider drafting a plan to take in and provide aid to demonstrators at their embassies in Iran. Italy said it was prepared to open its embassy to wounded protesters. Iranian state television said 10 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in demonstrations in Tehran on Saturday, which defied a warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The office of Tehran's prosecutor general blamed the weekend deaths on "unknown vandals" who had opened fire on civilians and killed people on Saturday, said Press TV. Iranians on social networking sites called for mourning for "Neda," a young woman shot dead on Saturday. Footage of her death has been watched by thousands on the Internet and her image has become an icon of the protests. A picture obtained on June 23, 2009 shows Iranian riot policemen backed up by the Islamic Basij militia standing guard in a street in Tehran on June 22, 2009. Iran was bracing for pro-government student protests against the British embassy in Tehran on June 23 as the world voiced increasing alarm at the violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators. Witnesses said security officials prevented her funeral from going ahead, blocking roads leading to a central Tehran mosque where the ceremony was to have taken place. "Police were spraying paint on the cars of those who insisted on driving toward the mosque," said one witness. Her fiance Caspian Makan told BBC Persian TV that Neda Agha-Soltan had been caught up accidentally in the protests. "She was near the area, a few streets away, from where the main protests were taking place, near the Amir Abad area. She was with her music teacher, sitting in a car and stuck in traffic," it quoted him as saying.

"She was feeling very tired and very hot. She got out of the car for just a few minutes."

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 22, 2009 - West 'Seeks Iran Disintegration' And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 22, 2009 - West 'Seeks Iran Disintegration' And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead *Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media / BBC (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 22, 2009: Western powers are seeking to undermine Iran by spreading "anarchy and vandalism", the foreign ministry says. A spokesman said foreign media were "mouthpieces" of enemy governments seeking Iran's disintegration. TV station shows a burning bus during a demonstration in Tehran on June 20, 2009. Thousands of Iranians clashed with police as they defied an ultimatum from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for an end to protests over last week's disputed presidential election. He spoke as Tehran remained tense but quiet amid heavy security aimed at preventing new protests against the result of Iran's presidential election. Iran's Guardian Council says it found irregularities in 50 constituencies, but denied that affected the result. Challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi says the vote was rigged in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and must be re-run. Mr Mousavi has told his supporters, who have taken to the streets in their tens of thousands for more than a week, to continue their protests but not to put their lives in danger. At least 10 people were reported to have been killed in clashes between protesters and police and militia forces on Saturday. That violence followed a warning on Friday from Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that further demonstrations against the election result would not be tolerated. Iranian state media said 457 people were detained over Saturday's violence. International campaign group Reporters Without Borders says 23 local journalists and bloggers have been arrested over the past week. Opposition supporters passing messages online said they planned to carry candles at a rally in Tehran on Monday evening in memory of those killed. However, heavy security on the streets meant it was not clear whether they would be able to gather freely. The protests began after incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was named as the winner of the presidential election of 12 June. Results showed Mr Ahmadinejad won the election by a landslide, taking 63% of the vote, almost double that of Mr Mousavi, his nearest rival. Following complaints, the powerful Guardian Council, which oversees the electoral process, now says it has found evidence that more votes were cast in some constituencies than there were registered voters. But the number "has no effect on the result of the elections", a council spokesman said. The BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, who is in Tehran, says this crisis has highlighted divisions within Iran's ruling elite. Mr Mousavi saying the Islamic Republic needs root and branch reform, and it is hard to imagine Iran being the same place at the end of this crisis, our correspondent says.

'Contacting the enemy' Speaking at a news conference on Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi accused Western governments of explicitly backing violent protests aimed at undermining the stability of Iran's Islamic Republic. "Spreading anarchy and vandalism by Western powers and also Western media... these are not at all accepted," he said. ANALYSIS Jeremy BowenBBC Middle East editor, Tehran Mr Mousavi needs to find a way of channelling his popular support and to exploit the backing he also has amongst some of Iran's senior clerics and politicians. At the same time though, the supreme leader and the president are determined to hold to their position.The question for the opposition is how to get that energy coming off the streets to make inroads with the elders at the top level. This is a very tight-knit group of people who have been together for 30 years or more. What makes this different and unique is that in the past, although there has been unrest, there has never been a break in the elite. He said the West was acting in an "anti-democratic" manner, instead praising Iran's commitment to democracy and stressing once again that the results of the presidential election were unimpeachable. Iran has strongly criticised the US and UK governments in recent days, and Mr Qashqavi reserved special scorn for the BBC and for the Voice of America network, which he called "government channels". The BBC and other foreign media have been reporting from Iran under severe restrictions for the past week. The BBC's permanent correspondent in Iran, Jon Leyne, was asked to leave the country on Sunday. "They [the BBC and the VOA] are the mouthpiece of their government's public diplomacy," Mr Qashqavi said. "They have two guidelines regarding Iran. One is to intensify ethnical and racial rifts within Iran and secondly to disintegrate the Iranian territories." "Any contact with these channels, under any pretext or in any form, means contacting the enemy of the Iranian nation. "How can they say they are unbiased when their TV channel is like a war headquarters and in fact they are blatantly commanding riots. Therefore their claims are absolutely wrong. Their governments have ratified decisions so that they can act in this way."

Witnesses said there were no rallies in the capital on Sunday, a day after 10 people were reported killed in clashes between police and protesters. Meanwhile, Mr Mousavi, whose supporters make up most of the protesting crowds, urged them to continue their rallies. "Protesting against lies and fraud is your right. In your protests continue to show restraint," a statement on his website said. On Sunday, thousands of security officers were out on the streets but protesters stayed away.

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 22, 2009 - Iranian Opposition Leader Mirhossein Mousavi Urges More Protests, Gunfire Heard, 10 People Killed And Week Of ...

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 22, 2009 - Iranian Opposition Leader Mirhossein Mousavi Urges More Protests, Gunfire Heard, 10 People Killed And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 22, 2009: Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters on Sunday to continue protests over a disputed presidential election, in a direct challenge to the leadership of the Islamic Republic. EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. An injured protester stands on a street in Tehran June 20, 2009. Iranian authorities on June 21, 2009 blamed 'terrorists' and rioters for clashes in which at least 10 people were killed and state media suggested only the West stood to gain from a week of unrest sparked by a disputed election. Mousavi also issued an oblique appeal to the security forces to show restraint in handling demonstrations -- a move likely to be viewed with deep suspicion by a conservative leadership that has vowed to use force wherever necessary to quell opposition. Helicopters buzzed through the evening sky over Tehran and gunfire was heard in the north of the city, a bastion of support for the reformist former prime minister. "Protesting against lies and fraud (in the election) is your right," Mousavi said in a statement on his website. "In your protests, continue to show restraint. I am expecting armed forces to avoid irreversible damage," he added. Iran state television said 10 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in protests in Tehran on Saturday held in defiance of a warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A separate report put the number of deaths at 13. Mousavi said the mass arrest of his supporters, "will create a rift between society and the country's armed forces." A product of the Islamic establishment himself, Mousavi said on Saturday he was not questioning the fundaments of the Islamic Republic but sought to renew it and purge it of what he called deceit and lies. The dispute over the June 12 election which returned to power hardline anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked the most violent unrest since the Islamic Revolution which ousted the U.S.-backed shah in 1979. The authorities in Iran, a major gas and oil producer, have dismissed the protesters as "terrorists" and rioters, an indication of their determination to crack down hard on demonstrations. Tehran's police commander Azizullah Rajabzadeh said police would "confront all gatherings and unrest with all its strength," the official IRNA news agency reported. GUNFIRE AND CHANTS In pro-Mousavi districts of northern Tehran, supporters took to the rooftops after dusk to chant their defiance, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iranian security personnel ride past burning debris on the streets in Tehran June 20, 2009. Iranian authorities on June 21, 2009 blamed 'terrorists' and rioters for clashes in which at least 10 people were killed and state media suggested only the West stood to gain from a week of unrest sparked by a disputed election. "I heard repeated shootings while people were chanting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) in Niavaran area," said a witness, who asked not to be named. Another witness heard shooting in Zaferaniyeh district in the north of the capital. There were no immediate reports of casualties and the shooting appeared an attempt by the authorities to break up unsanctioned protests. Government restrictions prevent correspondents working for foreign media from attending protests to report. As authorities fulminated against protesters backing Mousavi, moderate former President Mohammad Khatami signaled increased opposition among pro-reform clerics to Iran's conservative leadership. "Preventing people from expressing their demands through civil ways will have dangerous consequences," Khatami, a Mousavi ally, said in a statement quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency. His comment, implying criticism of Khamenei who has backed a ban on protests and defended the outcome of the election, found an echo with Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the most senior dissident cleric. "Resisting people's demand is religiously prohibited," said Montazeri, an architect of the Islamic revolution who fell out with the present leadership and was under house arrest for some years. ELECTION "RIGGED" Mousavi, who came second to Ahmadinejad in the poll and whose followers have spearheaded protests, says the election was rigged and must be annulled. An analysis of official statistics from Iran's Interior Ministry by Britain's Chatham House think-tank suggested that in the conservative Mazandaran and Yazd provinces, turnout was more than 100 percent. It said that in a third of all provinces, official results would have required Ahmadinejad to take all former conservative, centrist and all new voters, and up to 44 percent of reformist voters, "despite a decade of conflict between these two groups." The authorities reject charges of election fraud. But the highest legislative body has said it is ready to recount a random 10 percent of votes cast. Iranians demonstrate in Paris, Sunday June 21, 2009, protesting the outcome of the presidential election in Iran. The demonstrators are expressing solidarity with Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters, who have protested in Iran for several days to demand a new presidential election. Khatami was skeptical. "Referring the dispute to a body which has not been impartial regarding the vote, is not a solution," he said in a statement, Mehr reported. In London, the BBC confirmed that Iran had ordered the broadcaster's correspondent, Jon Leyne, out of the country. Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari has temporarily been detained in Iran, a source close to the journalist said. OBAMA AND TOP AIDES DISCUSS IRAN Ahmadinejad meanwhile accused the United States and Britain of interfering in Iran's affairs. "I advise you (the United States and Britain) to correct your interfering stances," Ahmadinejad was quoted by ISNA news agency as saying at a meeting with clerics and scholars. U.S. President Barack Obama, in the forefront of diplomatic efforts to halt an Iranian nuclear program the West fears could yield atomic weapons, discussed the situation with foreign policy advisers, the White House said in a statement. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband rejected Ahmadinejad's charge and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Iran to allow peaceful protests and conduct a recount. Riot police were deployed in force on Saturday, firing teargas and using batons and water cannon to disperse groups of several hundred Iranians who had gathered across the city.

Iranian security personnel gather during a march on a street in Tehran in this picture uploaded on Twitter on June 20, 2009. Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavisaid on Saturday he was "ready for martyrdom" in leading protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic and brought warnings of bloodshed from Iran's Supreme Leader.

Authorities on Saturday detained the daughter of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Faezeh, for "alleged involvement in post-election incidents," Iran's English-language Press TV said. She has "been asked to commit herself in writing not to stir the situation," it said. In Paris, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told Europe 1 radio that tensions in Iran had added to risks facing the world economy and underlined the need for strengthening the global financial system.

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 21, 2009 - Gunfire, Euphoria ~ Opposition Protesters Clash With Riot Police And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 21, 2009 - Gunfire, Euphoria ~ Opposition Protesters Clash With Riot Police And Week Of Turmoil Unrest Ahead *Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 21, 2009: Iranian police have used water cannon, batons, tear gas and live rounds to break up protests over the presidential election, witnesses in Tehran say. A BBC reporter said he saw one man shot and others injured amid running fights.Riot policeman gather on a street during clashes with supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi in Tehran June 20, 2009. Mousavi said on Saturday he was "ready for martyrdom" in leading protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic and brought warnings of bloodshed from Iran's Supreme Leader. Defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi repeated calls for the election to be annulled on the grounds it was rigged. US President Barack Obama urged Iran's government "to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people", saying the "world is watching". TEHRAN EYEWITNESS Security forces were everywhere in central Tehran in the late afternoon and early evening. As I spent a couple of hours driving around in heavy traffic I could see thousands of men, some uniformed members of the military riot squads, some units of revolutionary guard, and everywhere basijis - militiamen who look like street toughs. The security men were deployed on every street corner, in long lines down the sides of the roads, and in all the main squares. The basijis wore riot helmets and carried big clubs. It was designed to intimidate, and while I was there, it was working. The country's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei had warned protesters on Friday not to continue their rallies, but they openly defied his words. President Obama said the US stood by all who sought to exercise their right to free speech and assembly. He added: "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."It was unclear if Iranian political leaders had backed their supporters continuing to march. In a letter to the electoral body, the Guardian Council, Mr Mousavi, who had not made a public comment for two days, reiterated his calls for the election to be declared void. He alleged the vote, held on 12 June, was rigged months previously. Official results of the presidential poll gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a resounding 63% of votes, compared to 34% for Mr Mousavi, his nearest rival. Media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. Supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi clash with riot policeman in Tehran June 20, 2009. Mousavi said on Saturday he was "ready for martyrdom" in leading protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic and brought warnings of bloodshed from Iran's Supreme Leader. In other developments: Thousands of police, militia and secret policemen blocked access to Enghelab and Azadi squares, and protesters were throwing stones in surrounding streets. A BBC correspondent saw one man shot in a crowd and another with injuries from a razor-wielding secret policeman. About 3,000 protesters were reportedly gathered at Enghelab Square, according to Associated Press news agency. They chanted "Death to the dictator" and "Death to dictatorship". One witness told Reuters news agency that protesters loyal to defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi set fire to a building in southern Tehran used by backers of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A column of black smoke is hanging over the city centre, our correspondent says. Two Iranian news agencies reported that the suicide bomber died and two people were injured in the bombing at the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 revolution. Some reports could not be independently confirmed. Foreign news organisations - including the BBC - have been subjected to strict controls which prevent reporters from leaving their offices. A BBC correspondent in Tehran says his impression is that the police have broken up large crowds into smaller groups to prevent them assembling. Confusing signals Early on Saturday, the wife of Mr Mousavi and an aide to another rival candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, said the rally would go ahead, although this was later contradicted by his party. Speaking on state TV, deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan warned police would "certainly fight against any form of illegal gathering and protest". He also said protest organisers would be arrested. The result triggered almost daily street protests - a challenge to ruling authorities unprecedented since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Mr Mousavi had been expected, along with fellow challengers Mr Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai, to discuss more than 600 objections they had filed complaining about the poll at a meeting of the Guardian Council, which certifies elections, on Saturday. Tehran map: The streets of Tehran and other major cities began exploding after dark with smoke rises from a fire on a streets June 20, 2009. Women became a driving force, emboldened by Mr. Moussavi’s ground-breaking decision to campaign alongside his wife, the distinguished political scientist Zahra Rahnavard. But neither Mr Mousavi nor Mr Karroubi attended the meeting - which suggests, our correspondent says, they have abandoned their legal challenge to the election results. State TV quoted the Guardian Council as saying it was "ready" to recount a randomly selected 10% of ballot boxes. It had previously offered a partial recount of disputed ballots from the election, rather than the full re-run of the election demanded by

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 20, 2009 - Iran Leaders Raise Pressure ~ Rally By Foes Said To Be Off / Iranian Opposition May Rally Despite Ban

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 20, 2009 - Iran Leaders Raise Pressure ~ Rally By Foes Said To Be Off / Iranian Opposition May Rally Despite Ban

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 20, 2009: One day after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sternly cut off any compromise over the nation’s disputed elections, the authorities piled on pressure for an end to street demonstrations on Saturday, and a group of reformist clerics was reported to have withdrawn from a major rally. Media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles as he talks to Judiciary Chief Mahmood Hashemi Shahroodi during Friday prayers in Tehran June 19, 2009. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday demanded an end to street protests that have shaken the country since a disputed presidential election a week ago and said any bloodshed would be their leaders' fault. With the police threatening to arrest and prosecute organizers of unauthorized protests, and opposition leaders facing an excruciating choice between conciliation and an ever-greater risk of reprisals and possible bloodshed, the fate of the opposition movement seemed to have reached a pivotal phase after a week of protests. State television reported that a reformist group called the Combatant Clerics Assembly had called off a rally planned for Saturday, saying that “permission was asked to hold a rally, but since it has not been issued, there will be no rally held.” The clerics’ statement was also posted on a Web site linked to the main opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi. But it remained unclear whether people would mass again in the huge numbers protesters have deployed over much of the past week since the election results were announced. A reporter from an American news organization said she had been called by a member of the paramilitary Basij militia warning her not to go to the venue for the Saturday rally because the situation would be dangerous and there could be fatalities. In a long and hard-line sermon on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei declared the elections on June 12 valid and warned of violence if demonstrators continue, as they have pledged, to flood the streets in defiance of the government. Iran’s National Security Council reinforced the warning Saturday, Iran’s Labor News Agency, or ILNA, and other state media reported, telling Mr. Moussavi, to “refrain from provoking illegal rallies.” The demand came in a letter from the head of the council, Abbas Mohtaj, following a formal complaint by Mr. Moussavi that law enforcement agencies had failed to protect protesters. “It is your duty not to incite and invite the public to illegal gatherings; otherwise, you will be responsible for its consequences," the letter said, according to state media. Ahmad Reza Radan, a senior police officer, warned on state television that the police “will act with determination against all illegal demonstrations and protests.” Unidentified opposition officials were quoted in news reports Saturday as saying protest would be held as planned, despite the authorities’ thinly-veiled warnings that their response would be more forceful than previously. In his sermon on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei said opposition leaders who failed to halt the protests “would be responsible for bloodshed and chaos.” The tough words seemed to dash hopes for a peaceful solution to what defeated candidates and protesters call a fraudulent election last week, plunging Iran into its gravest crisis since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Regional analysts said that, by calling for an end to the demonstrations, Ayatollah Khamenei had raised the stakes significantly, invoking his own prestige and that of Iran’s clerical regime. In a measure of the scale of the opposition’s complaints, one losing candidate in the June 12 election, Mohsen Rezai, a conservative former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, claimed to have won between 3.5 and 7 million votes compared to the 250,000 accorded to him in the first announcement of results a week ago, state-run Press TV reported Saturday. And, in a sign of mixed signals emerging from the authorities, the English-language network also reported Saturday that Ibrahim Yazdi, a former foreign minister who leads an organization called Freedom Movement, had been released after being detained in hospital earlier in the week. Several opposition figures, journalists and analysts were detained during a week of defiance that brought forth an array of official measures — part conciliatory, part repressive — to try to stem the protests. There was no ambiguity in Ayatollah Khamenei’s sermon Friday. “Flexing muscles on the streets after the election is not right,” he said, before tens of thousands of angry supporters at Tehran University. “It means challenging the elections and democracy. If they don’t stop, the consequences of the chaos would be their responsibility.” The sermon put Ayatollah Khamenei, who prefers to govern quietly and from behind the scenes, at the forefront of a confrontation not only among factions of the government but among Iranians themselves. It also presents Mr. Moussavi, whom the opposition says was the real winner of last Friday’s elections, with a fateful choice. The former prime minister and long-time insider must decide whether to escalate his challenge to Iran’s supreme leader and risk a bloody showdown, or abandon his support for a popular uprising that his candidacy inspired. On Saturday, the authorities have invited the three opposition candidates to attend a meeting with the 12-member Guardian Council, an authoritative panel of clerics which oversees and certifies election results. The panel has been presented with 646 complaints of electoral irregularities, the authorities have said.

Iranians demonstrate near the Iranian embassy in Paris, Friday June 19, 2009 protesting the outcome of the presidential election in Iran. Iran's supreme leader sternly warned Friday of a crackdown if protesters continue their massive street rallies, escalating the government's showdown with demonstrators demanding a new presidential election. The inscriptions on the photos read "Change for Iran", left, and "No to police violence in Iran".

Mr. Moussavi has expressed mistrust of the panel, accusing some of its members of campaigning before the election for Mr. Ahmadinejad. And it is not clear what the panel would discuss since Ayatollah Khamenei has already endorsed the legitimacy of the ballot. On Saturday, Press TV quoted the Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the Council’s spokesman, as saying the body was investigating complaints including shortages and delays in the supply of ballot papers, the denial of access to polling stations by candidates’ representatives and intimidation and bribery of voters. During the tough sermon on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei tried to tamp down factional disputes among the elite, at one point even chastising pro-government militias and President Ahmadinejad for their role in the crisis. But he hardened his stance on the election results. On Monday, a crowd that the mayor of Tehran estimated at three million rallied for the first of four days, and Ayatollah Khamenei ordered an investigation into the election results, which declared Mr. Ahmadinejad the winner, with 63 percent to Mr. Moussavi’s 34 percent. But the ayatollah said Friday that there was nothing to discuss, as he again endorsed the victory of Mr. Ahmadinejad, seated in the audience, and called the elections “an epic moment that has become a historic moment.” He dismissed allegations of fraud. “Perhaps 100,000 votes, or 500,000, but how can anyone tamper with 11 million votes?” he asked as the crowd burst into laughter. “If the political elite ignore the law — whether they want it or not — they would be responsible for the bloodshed and chaos,” he said. He added that foreign agents were behind the street unrests and that there were efforts to stage a “velvet revolution.” “They thought Iran is Georgia,” he said, adding, “Their problem is that they don’t know this great nation yet.” Tens of thousands of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s supporters gathered for the sermon. Television showed the streets filled with people near Tehran University. Newspapers said Thursday that a group of members of Parliament reported that the forces of the Basij militia were responsible for the attack on a dormitory in Tehran and a housing complex called Sobhan this week. Students said that five students — two women and three men — were killed in the attack. In his sermon, Ayatollah Khamenei criticized those who carried out the attack. “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.” There was no immediate reaction from Mehdi Karroubi, another presidential candidate who accused the government of fraud. Many analysts and aides to Mr. Moussavi have been arrested and were not available for comments. In a letter on Friday, Mr. Karroubi urged the Guardian Council to nullify the elections. “This is not the demand of an individual, it is the demand of the people,” he wrote in a letter posted on his Web site. “I warn you that insulting people would only intensify their rage.”

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 19, 2009 - More Protests And Ayatollah Ali Khamenei To Address Iranians After Election Unrest

DTN News: Iran TODAY June 19, 2009 - More Protests And Ayatollah Ali Khamenei To Address Iranians After Election Unrest *Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media / AP (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - June 19, 2009: Iran's supreme leader will address the nation on Friday for the first time since a disputed election result triggered the biggest street protests the Islamic Republic has seen. This image made available Thursday , June 18 2009 from the Iranian Supreme Leader's website shows Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 3rd left, speaking at a meeting in Tehran with representatives of presidential candidates Wednesday June 17, 2009. ** EDITORIAL USE ONLY EDITORS NOTE AS A RESULT OF AN OFFICIAL IRANIAN GOVERNMENT BAN ON FOREIGN MEDIA COVERING EVENTS IN IRAN, THE AP IS OBLIGED TO USE IMAGES FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Iranians to unite behind hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but supporters of defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi have so far ignored the call, holding huge rallies in defiance of an official ban. Thousands of people streamed into Tehran University on Friday to hear Khamenei speak. Some were draped in Iranian flags and carried pictures of Ahmadinejad. Others held sheets of paper with anti-Western slogans. "Don't let the history of Iran be written with the pen of foreigners," one flyer said, reflecting official Iranian anger at international criticism of the post-election violence. Khamenei's speech follows a sixth day of protests by Mousavi supporters. On Thursday, tens of thousands, wearing black and carrying candles, marched to mourn those killed in earlier mass rallies. The largest and most widespread demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic revolution have rocked the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, which is also caught up in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program. Iranian state media has reported seven or eight people killed in protests since the election results were published on June 13. Scores of reformists have been arrested and authorities have cracked down on both foreign and domestic media.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said about 500 people had been arrested in the last week, and called for their unconditional release. She said Iran should hold new elections under the supervision of the United Nations. Mousavi, a moderate who advocates better ties with the West, has also called for the election to be annulled, saying pledges by the country's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, to recount some disputed ballot boxes did not go far enough.

Iranian supporters of defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi gather outside the Iranian Embassy on June 18, 2009 in London, England. Thousands of people have continued to protest in the streets of Tehran today with expectations of an even larger protest tomorrow as a day of mourning is planned for the eight people killed in Monday's protests. Iran has banned foreign media from covering rallies in the country and Iran's Guardian Council reportedly said that they would recount some of the votes in presidential election that critics say was unfairly won by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinehjad. on June 18, 2009 in London, England. The council has invited Mousavi and two other defeated candidates to talks on Saturday, and says it has begun "careful examination" of 646 complaints. Objections include a shortage of ballot papers, pressure on voters to support a particular candidate, and the barring of candidates' representatives from polling stations. Iran has denounced foreign criticism of the election, although U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has muted its comments to keep the door open for possible dialogue. BLOODIED FACES At Thursday's rally, protesters massed in a Tehran square, responding to Mousavi's call for people to gather in mosques or at peaceful rallies to show solidarity with the victims and their families. They held photographs of those killed, some showing bloodied faces, apparently taken after they died. "Our martyred brothers we will take back your votes," read one placard. "Why did you kill our brothers?" said another. Other banners told protesters to stay home on Friday, when Ahmadinejad supporters are expected to show their strength at Khamenei's Friday prayers, but to gather again the next day. Mousavi supporters say he will be joined on Saturday by reformist former president Mohammad Khatami and another defeated candidate, liberal cleric Mehdi Karoubi. Ahmadinejad has defended the legitimacy of the vote, telling a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that 25 million of 40 million voters had approved the way he was running the country. The semi-official Fars news agency said two children of powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who backs Mousavi and clashed with Ahmadinejad during campaigning, had been barred from leaving Iran. His daughter Faezeh addressed Mousavi supporters on Tuesday. Hardline students called for her and her brother, Mehdi, to be arrested. Iran's Intelligence Ministry said it had uncovered a foreign-linked terrorist plot to plant bombs in mosques and other crowded places in Tehran during the election. State broadcaster IRIB quoted a ministry statement as saying several terrorist groups had been discovered, adding they were linked to Iran's foreign enemies, including Israel. Hamid Najafi, editor-in-chief of Kayhan International, an English-language conservative Iranian daily, said the Guardian Council investigation of the vote would calm unrest but the overall result would not change because "there isn't a millionth chance of doing any fraud."