Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casts his ballot during the Iranian presidential election on June 12, 2009. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
TEHERAN - IRAN'S Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared on Wednesday a disputed election result would stand, despite street protests that Iranian officials say Britain and the United States have incited.
FOREIGN POWERS
PRESIDENT Ahmadinejad's government blames the discontent on foreign powers, accusations rejected by London and Washington.
'Britain, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) were behind the recent unrest in Teheran,' Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said, according to Fars.
The opposition refused to be bowed. Reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came last in the June 12 presidential vote, called the new government 'illegitimate' and about 200 protesters braved the security crackdown near parliament.
Riot police later used teargas to break up the protest.
Police and militia have largely succeeded in taking back control of the streets this week after the biggest anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The hardline leadership is refusing to give ground.
'I had insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue,' said Ayatollah Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran. 'Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost.'
The unrest has exposed unprecedented rifts within the establishment with moderate former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi insisting the election was stolen from him in favour of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ayatollah Khamenei normally stays above the political fray, but has come down strongly on the side of Mr Ahmadinejad, while Mr Mousavi is backed by powerful former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatist who favours a less confrontational foreign policy.
Mr Mousavi and Mr Rafsanjani met a group of senior parliamentarians on Wednesday.
The semi-official Fars news agency said only that the election and latest developments were discussed, and it was not clear whether the pair were trying to make peace with the hardline-dominated parliament or trying to win over support. -- REUTERS
