The warning came after state radio said at least 457 people had been detained in street clashes in Tehran on Saturday that left 10 people dead, bringing the overall toll from a week of violence to at least 17. -- PHOTO: AFP
TEHRAN - IRAN'S Revolutionary Guards warned on Monday it would crush further demonstrations over the disputed presidential election after the opposition defiantly vowed to press on with its protests.
Media clampdown in Iran
But Iranian leaders have lashed out at 'meddling' by Western nations - particularly the United States and Britain and accused the foreign media, already facing tight restrictions on their work, of fomenting the unrest.
Iran's foreign ministry took aim at global broadcasters the BBC and Voice of America, saying they were Israeli agents who aimed to 'weaken the national solidarity, threaten territoral integrity and disintegrate Iran.'
The Guards - an elite force set up to protect the Islamic republic in the wake of the 1979 revolution - warned of a 'decisive and revolutionary' riposte to any further unrest.
The warning came after state radio said at least 457 people had been detained in street clashes in Tehran on Saturday that left 10 people dead, bringing the overall toll from a week of violence to at least 17.
As the Islamic rulers struggle to contain the biggest upheaval in 30 years, Iran's election watchdog the Guardians Council acknowledged discrepancies in the June 12 vote but insisted they would not alter the outcomes.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has led a wave of massive protests over what he says was a rigged election that returned Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, urged supporters to continue demonstrating but to adopt 'self-restraint' to avoid more bloodshed.
But the Guards - echoing a warning by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday - said it strongly condemned the 'illegal path' taken by 'deceived elements' amd demanded an end to 'rioting and vandalism,' in a statement quoted by the Mehr news agency.
'If not, they should expect a decisive and revolutionary confrontation from the children of the Iranian nation in the Guards, the Basij militia and other police and security forces to end the mutiny and riots.'
Since the turmoil began, Iranian security forces have cracked down on demonstrators and many hundreds of protestors as well as prominent reformists, journalists and analysts have been arrested.
World leaders have voiced mounting alarm over the unrest, which has jolted the pillars of the Islamic regime and raised concerns over the future of the Shiite Muslim powerhouse, the fourth largest oil producer in the world.
Mr Ahmadinejad, who had put Iran on a collision course with the West during his first four-year term with his anti-Israeli tirades and defiant stance on the country's nuclear drive, was declared the victor with 63 per cent of the vote. -- AFP
