Of course we should remain as quiet as we are, all the while reaffirming the will of the people. Any reasonable look at what is happening in Iran and you can see the numbers are in the millions, not thousands. It is clear. So if Obama wants to pretend, Montazeri is a lot more clear - “No one in their right mind can believe” the official election results.
Inshallah we will see a new revolution in Iran - the people will choose and the mullahs will be deposed.
Iran’s most senior cleric says election was bogus
‘NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND CAN BELIEVE’ THE RESULTS, HE SAYS
Comments point to rift at top
Seattle Times
June 17, 2009
TEHRAN, Iran – Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival in the disputed presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, staged competing rallies Tuesday as the country’s most senior Islamic cleric threw his weight behind opposition charges that Ahmadinejad’s re-election was rigged.
“No one in their right mind can believe” the official results from Friday’s contest, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said of the pur
IRAN’S TOP CLERIC SAYS ELECTION WAS BOGUS
Rivals stage rallies; more deaths reported ported landslide victory by Ahmadinejad. Montazeri accused the regime of handling Mousavi’s charges of fraud and the massive protests staged by his supporters “in the worst way possible.”
“A government not respecting people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy,” the country’s senior-most cleric declared on his official Web site. “I ask the police and army personals [personnel] not to ‘sell their religion,’ and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God.”
Montazeri’s pointed comments provided fresh evidence that a serious rift has opened at the top of Iran’s powerful religious hierarchy.
For the third time in as many days, Tehran was the scene of huge rallies. Ahmadinejad supporters gathered at Vali Asr Square, preempting plans by Mousavi’s supporters to rally there. State television provided full coverage of the pro-Ahmadinejad demonstration, including aerial images of a crowd that appeared to number in the thousands. Ahmadinejad was in Moscow, where he said nothing about Iran’s problems.
Tens of thousands of Mousavi supporters converged later in affluent northern Tehran, where the opposition candidate has strong support. A witness told The Associated Press that the rally stretched more than a mile along Vali Asr Avenue, from Vanak Square to the headquarters of Iranian state television.
As many as three more protesters were reported killed in clashes in the square — adding to the eight who were confirmed killed Monday. Foreign media were barred from covering the demonstrations, and the source of the report of the latest deaths was a witness known to McClatchy Newspapers, who asked that his name not be used for his security.
Tehran residents who spoke to a reporter on condition that their names not be published said there was widespread intimidation by thousands of members of the Basij, a hard-line Islamic volunteer militia loyal to the Islamic regime.
Iranian bloggers reported scattered violence after dark by Basij members. Reports of violence weren’t limited to the capital.
In a voice mail to U.S. government-funded Radio Farda, and posted on the Web site of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a woman who identified herself as Zeinab from the city of Shiraz said students gathered in front of university dormitories and protested peacefully.
“The Guard attacked the university and started beating the people. What are the people supposed to do? They are forced to react,” she said, referring to the elite Revolutionary Guard, a parallel military force controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
More than 170 opposition figures and dissidents have been rounded up since the election, according to unconfirmed reports. Shahabnews, a pro-Mousavi Web site, issued a list of 42 people it said were still in custody Tuesday. State television also reported that Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president and adviser to opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi, had been arrested.
Montazeri, a leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution who has feuded with Khamenei often and once vied with him for the supreme leader’s position, accused the government of attacking “the children of the people with astonishing violence” and “attempting a purge, arresting intellectuals, political opponents and scientifics.”
In an attempt to defuse the crisis, the 12-member Guardian Council, at Khamenei’s behest, announced it would conduct a partial recount of the balloting, which the government said Ahmadinejad won with more than 62 percent of the vote.
A Guardian Council spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodai, maintained the election “had one of the lowest rates of irregularities ever.” But he raised the possibility that the investigation, which he said is expected to take seven to 10 days, could result in nullification and a new election, as Mousavi has requested. But a senior Mousavi aide dismissed the partial recount as “useless.” The aide, Ali Akbar Montashamipour, said an independent commission should look into the “widespread violations,” and he called for the election to be held again.
President Obama said he had “deep concerns about the election,” but that “it’s not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling.”
Iran
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