TEHRAN, Iran — 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 warning opposition leaders to end street protests or be held responsible for any “bloodshed and chaos” to come.
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 has become a nightly ritual of opposition unity.
The sharp line drawn by Iran’s most powerful figure, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a gambit that pushes Iran’s opposition to a pivotal moment: either back down or risk a crushing response from police and the forces at Khamenei’s disposal — the powerful Revolutionary Guard and their volunteer citizen militia, the Basij.
It also presents important tests for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
He now must examine his willingness to challenge the Islamic leadership he once served as prime minister. There are further questions about his ability to control his own followers, who are waiting for a clear response to Khamenei’s edict before a rally planned for today.
Since the June 12 election, Mousavi has become the figurehead for a broad collection of demonstrators — from the most liberal-leaning reformists to religious conservatives — brought together by claims that fraud was behind the landslide re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Some could be prepared to take their protests to the limit. Many others, however, have no interest in an all-out mutiny against the country’s Islamic system. Khamenei was blunt about what a wider fight would bring — warning those who “want to ignore the law or break the law” will face the consequences.
“They will be held accountable for all the violence, bloodshed and rioting,” he told tens of thousands of people gathered for Friday prayers at Tehran University for a speech that was broadcast around Iran and the world.
Among the worshipers sitting on the carpeted floor of the prayer hall was Ahmadinejad in a tan jacket and one of his three election rivals, former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei. Crowds spilled into the campus.
“The Islamic state would not cheat and would not betray the vote of the people,” said Khamenei, standing on a raised platform decorated with Koranic verses and flanked by flowers.
He went on to effectively declare Ahmadinejad the winner, calling the election an “absolute victory.”
He left open a remote chance that the overall outcome could come under question by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the supreme leader. The council investigates claims of voter fraud and has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities.
