Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed a crowd at Tehran University in a sermon during Friday prayers. He said that election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s is a “definitive victory”
Khamenei said Ahmadinejad got more than 24 million votes, defeating Moussavi, his main challenger. “Eleven million votes difference? Sometimes there’s a margin of 100,000, 200,000, or 1 million maximum. Then one can doubt maybe there has been some rigging or manipulation or irregularities,” Khamenei said.”But there’s a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote rigging happen?” he asked.
Khamenei called on those who don’t believe the results to use proper legal avenues, such as requesting the recounting of ballots in their presence, he did not issue a call for a new vote. He criticized the street protests and said those who caused violence during demonstrations would be held accountable.
The supreme leader criticized international media and the enemies of Iran — the United States, Britain, Israel and apparently those inside the country — for manipulating and undermining the process. He said all four candidates — Ahmadinejad, Moussavi, Mohsen Rezaie and Mehdi Karrubi — support the Islamic revolution.
The supreme leader said the Obama administration has passed along mixed messages about relations between the United States and Iran, saying the president lauded the street protests but also extends an olive branch to the government.”Which one should we believe?” he asked.
At various junctures through the talk members of the crowd chanted: “Allah is Great,” “Death to Israel,” “Death to America,” “Death to Britain.”
When Iranian TV airs Friday prayers, the camera regularly focuses on important officials. In this case, the event was noteworthy for who was there, as well as for who was not. Ahmadinejad and Rezaie attended, but Karrubi and Moussavi, who called for a boycott of the prayers, were not seen. Former President Mohammed Khatami, a supporter of Moussavi, was not shown on the broadcast as well.
Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has been in a power struggle with Khamenei, wasn’t shown on the TV broadcast. Rafsanjani is chairman of the Assembly of Experts, which is responsible for appointing or removing the supreme leader and monitoring that body’s attitudes toward Khamenei.
Khamenei remained staunch in his defense of Ahmadinejad, saying his views were closer to the president’s than to those of Hashemi Rafsanjani, a supporter of Moussavi.
The supreme leader at the same time defended Rafsanjani from charges of corruption made by the president during the presidential debate. He did, however, open the door to corruption charges against Rafsanjani’s relatives.
In discussing Iran’s support of human rights, Khamenei slammed U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
