Free Republic

The power struggle inside Iran appears to be moving from the streets into the heart of the regime itself this weekend amid reports that Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani is plotting to undermine the power of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani's manoeuvres against Khamenei come as tensions between the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also appeared to be coming to a head.

<p>Late Sunday night and early Monday morning, some 300 police and members of the paramilitary Basij militia stormed the university’s dormitory, where students had protested against what millions of Iranians, along with most independent analysts, believe was a stolen election. Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner, with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing his victory as a “divine assessment.”</p>

Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not give in to pressure over the disputed presidential election, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition. Iran also said it was considering downgrading ties with Britain, which it has accused of spying and fomenting days of unprecedented street protests over the vote.

Barack Obama sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before this month's disputed election calling for an improvement in relations, it was reported today. According to the Washington Times, the US president sent the private letter in May setting out the prospect of "co-operation in regional and bilateral relations" and a resolution of the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. The message was passed to the Iranian foreign ministry by the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Iran. The White House did not deny the letter had been sent. A spokesman said yesterday: "As you know, we...

Prior to this month's disputed presidential election in Iran, the Obama administration sent a letter to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an improvement in relations, according to interviews and the leader himself. Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the letter toward the end of a lengthy sermon last week, in which he accused the United States of fomenting protests in his country in the aftermath of the disputed June 12 presidential election. U.S. officials declined to discuss the letter on Tuesday, a day in which President Obama gave his strongest condemnation yet of the Iranian crackdown against protesters.

Iran's supreme leader's second son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has emerged as one of the driving forces behind the government's crackdown, diplomats and observers said. Mojtaba is an ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the disputed president, and was credited with winning his father's endorsement for the then Tehran mayor in the 2005 elections, leading to Ahmadinejad's shock second round victory. Mojtaba is an austere figure, generally seen as more hardline than his father and has become a gatekeeper for access to the beit-e-rahbari, the supreme leader's home, and the supreme leader himself. According to some Iran analysts, Khamenei, 70, is manoeuvring to position...

The moment of truth has come in Iran.  The Guardian Council and Ali Khamenei have played their last card — and it might be a trump.  The Revolutionary Guard has now threatened to meet the protestors in the streets and give them a “revolutionary confrontation”: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is threatening to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election and warns demonstrators to prepare for a “revolutionary confrontation” if they take to the streets again.The country’s most powerful military force ordered demonstrators to “end the sabotage and rioting activities” and said their resistance is a “conspiracy” against Iran.A...

US President Barack Obama said he was concerned by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s speech Friday that called for an end to protests over Iran’s disputed election and suggested a government crackdown could be coming. “I’m very concerned based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made,” Obama said in an interview with CBS News. Iran should “recognise that the world is watching”. “How they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what...

JUST after Iran’s rigged elections last week, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, it looked as if a new revolution was in the offing. Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Meanwhile, the real revolution has gone unnoticed: the guard has effected a silent coup d’état. The seeds of this coup were planted four years ago with the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And while he has since disappointed his public, failing to deliver on promised economic and political reforms, his allies now...

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s uncompromising demand for a halt to street protests over Iran’s disputed presidential election puts him in the forefront of a power struggle that could turn bloody. In a rare Friday prayer sermon, Khamenei, 69, essentially read the riot act to anyone questioning the integrity of last week’s election that gave hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a big margin over moderate challenger Mirhossein Mousavi. “If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible,” the black-turbaned, white-bearded cleric told tens of thousands of worshippers in Tehran in a televised speech that offered no...

Britain's Foreign Office is summoning Iran's ambassador over the comments made Friday by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a Foreign Office spokesman said. The ambassador is expected to meet with the Foreign Office's political director sometime Friday afternoon, said the spokesman, who would not be named in line with policy. Khamenei addressed a crowd at Tehran University in a sermon during Friday prayers. He passionately defended the outcome of last week's presidential election, but he also criticized the United States, Britain and Israel for manipulating and undermining the process. "Their enmity toward the Islamic establishment -- they are showing...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's supreme leader sought Friday to end the deepening crisis over disputed elections with one decisive speech—declaring the vote will almost certainly stand and sternly warning opposition leaders to end street protests or be held responsible for any "bloodshed and chaos" to come. But a first sign of possible resistance came shortly after nightfall in Tehran. Cries of "Death to the dictator!" and "Allahu akbar"—"God is great"—rang from rooftops in what's become a nightly ritual of opposition unity. The sharp line drawn by Iran's most powerful figure, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a gambit that pushes Iran's...

Iranian reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi was given an ultimatum by the Islamic Republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a call to support the reelected regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the London Times reported Friday morning. Khamenei made it clear to Mousavi that if he failed to report to Friday prayers at Teheran University, during which he planned to deliver a sermon calling for national unity, the oppostion leader would be exiled. Khamenei is expected to be assisted by "an army of Islamic volunteer militiamen" during the sermon. According the report, Khamenei made the demand while meeting with the representatives...

Anger after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected led to the biggest street demonstrations in the Islamic Republic's history. "Today the Iranian nation needs calm," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his first address to the nation since the upheaval began. But the Ayatollah offered no concession to opposition supporters who are demanding the elections be cancelled and held again, sternly warning against further protests. He blamed Great Britain and Iran's external enemies for the unrest, vigorously defending the ruling system. "The enemies (of Iran) are targeting the Islamic establishment's legitimacy by questioning the election and its authenticity before and after (the...

TEHRAN - 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. He defended Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the rightful winner of the presidential vote and denied any possibility that it had been rigged, as Ahmadinejad's opponents have asserted. "If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible," Khamenei declared in his first address to the nation since the upheaval began. "The result of the election comes from the ballot...

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, giving his Friday prayer sermon at Tehran University. Photograph: Reuters TV/ReutersIran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remained defiant today in the face of vote-rigging allegations as he condemned the protests that have rocked the country since last week's disputed elections.Speaking at Friday prayers, Khamenei claimed that the high turnout at the elections showed how much the Iranian people supported the regime, and warned protesters to keep off the streets.The reformist presidential challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was conspicuous by his absence from Friday prayers at Tehran University, where Khamenei was making his first public appearance...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is no longer above criticism from voters and theologians Forget the threat posed to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the political unrest that has swept Iran this week. It is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the regime's Supreme Leader, who should really be sweating about his future. For the past two decades, the 69-year-old has been the ultimate source of power in Iran. A middle-ranking cleric who was elevated by his mentor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, during the final months of his life, Mr Khamenei exercises enormous influence over the way the country is run. But when he delivers today's sermon at...

Khamenei tells Mousavi to toe the line over election or be cast out Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi (centre right) addresses supporters in Tehran Ella Flaye in Tehran, Catherine Philp and Martin Fletcher The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last week’s presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji — Islamic volunteer militiamen —...

Given the turmoil unfolding around him, the soothing call for peace and harmony seemed to belong to an alien planet. But if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sensed anything untoward in his words, he didn't show it. "Everybody should be patient," he told a televised gathering yesterday evening convened to discuss last week's disputed presidential election. "Tolerance is very difficult, whether for he who has won, or the one who is defeated. Increase the capacity for defeat in yourself." Khamenei's entrance into the centre of the crisis triggered by the biggest mass protests since the 1979 revolution seemed to...

The moderate Iranian leader who says that he was robbed of victory in last week’s presidential election faces a fateful choice today: support the regime or be cast out. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, has told Mir Hossein Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses Friday prayers at Tehran University to call for national unity. An army of Basiji — Islamic volunteer militiamen — is also expected to be bussed in to support the Supreme Leader. The demand was made at a meeting this week with representatives of all three candidates who claim that the poll was rigged,...