TEHRAN, Iran — Tens of thousands of Iranians backing the country’s rulers rallied in central Tehran on Wednesday, calling for the death of anti-government protesters and opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Clad in black and holding portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the government supporters chanted slogans for the Islamic Republic and against its opponents. “Death to Mousavi!” they chanted. “Death to opponents of velayet faqih,” a reference to Iran’s theocratic political system.
The gathering came as Mousavi attended a solemn burial ceremony for his nephew, who was shot to death during weekend riots.
The rally was in response to a weekend of large-scale antigovernment unrest coinciding with the religious holiday of Ashoura. Iranian officials condemned the earlier protest as part of a foreign-backed plot to weaken the Islamic Republic.
“I advise Mr. (Barack) Obama and some European leaders to learn a lesson from the fate of their predecessors and do not think that by creating scenes and kicking up ballyhoos they can disturb the united ranks of Iranian nation,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said to reporters along the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting, according to the pro-government Fars News Agency.
Iran’s leaders have long been masters of gathering huge crowds for pro-government demonstrations. Amid an ongoing crackdown on opposition supporters and dissidents, authorities encouraged employees of government offices and state-owned businesses to attend the 3 p.m. rally.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, is readying sanctions against discrete elements of the Iranian government, including those involved in the crackdown on protesters, marking a shift to a more aggressive U.S. posture toward the Islamic Republic, U.S. officials said.
Ten months after President Obama set a year-end deadline for Iran to engage with world powers on its nuclear program, the government in Tehran has failed to respond in kind, other than an abortive gesture in the fall.
Now, in what may be a difficult balancing act, officials say the administration wants to carefully target sanctions to avoid alienating the Iranian public — while keeping the door ajar to a resolution of the struggle over Iran’s nuclear program.
The aim of any sanctions is to force the Tehran government to the negotiating table, rather than to punish it for either its apparent push to develop a nuclear weapon or its treatment of its people.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
