Editor’s note: This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.
In fresh displays of defiance, Iran’s opposition leader told supporters Wednesday that “it’s not yet too late” to push for their rights, and he joined a reformist ex-president in condemning the regime for a post-election crackdown both said was tantamount to a coup.
Iran’s standoff with the West escalated with the European Union considering pulling out all 27 of its ambassadors in retaliation for the recent detentions of several local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran, despite Iranian claims that all but one had been released.
Embattled opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said he considered Iran’s cleric-led government illegitimate, and he demanded that it release all political prisoners and institute electoral reforms and press freedoms.
Former President Mohammad Khatami, meanwhile, lashed out at what he termed “a poisonous security situation” in the wake of violent street protests.
In boldly worded statements posted on their websites, Khatami accused Iran’s leadership of a “velvet coup against the people and democracy,” and Mousavi said the government’s crackdown on demonstrators was “tantamount to a coup.”
Wednesday’s confrontations with the regime came as Iran’s feared Basij militia accused Mousavi of undermining national security and asked a prosecutor to investigate his role in the protests.
Mousavi said he was troubled by “the bitter, widespread distrust of the people toward the declared election results and the government that caused it.”
“It’s our historic responsibility to continue our complaint and make efforts not to give up the rights of the people.”
Mousavi also condemned alleged attacks by security forces on college dormitories where “blood was spilled and the youth were beaten,” and he called for a return to a more “honest” political environment in the Islamic Republic.
“A majority of the people — including me — do not accept its political legitimacy,” he said, adding: “There’s a danger ahead. A ruling system which relied on people’s trust for 30 years cannot replace this trust with security forces overnight.”
State television reported Wednesday that all but one of nine Iranian employees of the British Embassy in Tehran had been released, and the sole Iranian still in custody was being held on suspicion of playing a role in post-election protests.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he had information suggesting two local employees might still be in detention. Britain and the EU had condemned the detentions as “harassment and intimidation,” and Britain asked the 27-nation bloc to withdraw its ambassadors.
