Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

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Iran Admits Protester Was Beaten to Death

First official acknowledgment of post-election state violence

(Newser) - A man arrested in the upheaval following Iran's presidential election was beaten to death in jail, Iranian media reported yesterday—offering the first official acknowledgment that a detained protester died after the disputed vote. Officials had originally said the man died of an illness, but a coroner's report said he...

Ahmadinejad Wants Opposition Leaders Tried

(Newser) - Just days after Iran's supreme leader tried to dial down the nation's tensions, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ratcheted them right back up again, reports the Los Angeles Times. In a charged speech today in Tehran, the country's president for the first time called for the prosecution of opposition leaders. He didn't name...

Iran Reformist Publishes Prison Rape Account

Karroubi says more allegations of protester abuse to come

(Newser) - A testimony released by defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi details a male protester's beating and rape at a notorious prison after the disputed election. The first-person account is just one of many, Karroubi alleges, and CNN reports that he will continue to publish them on his website "if...

Ahmadinejad 2nd Term Blessed, Iran TV Airs 'Confessions'

(Newser) - As his adversaries faced a mass court hearing condemned as a show trial, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was formally endorsed today for a second term as president of Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei conducted the ceremony, which Mir Hossein Mousavi and other opposition figures boycotted. The endorsement came after state television screened courtroom...

Ahmadinejad Caves to Hardliners, Cans Iran VP

Mashai felt unable to continue after Supreme leader's statement

(Newser) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caved in to pressure from hardline clerics and the country's supreme leader today and allowed the resignation of his top deputy after a week-long standoff. For days, the president had resisted pressure to dismiss Esfandiar Rahim Mashai from the key post of first vice president. Mashai...

Mousavi Plans New Party for Iranian Opposition

Reformist leader looks to give political legitimacy to post-election opposition

(Newser) - Mir Hossein Mousavi announced today that he will form a new political group based on the broad opposition that has asserted itself since Iran’s contested elections last month, the BBC reports. Mousavi, the top reformist candidate in those elections, says the organization would give a legal political framework to...

Ahmadinejad Defies Ayatollah, Refuses to Sack Vice Prez

In-law stays despite pro-Israel comments

(Newser) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defied a direct order from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to dismiss his vice president, opening a rift between Iran's president and supreme leader, reports the Los Angeles Times. Ahmadinejad's newly chosen VP, who is his son's father-in-law, has infuriated hardliners by making favorable remarks about Israel. But Ahmadinejad...

Top Clerics Defy Ayatollah Over Iran Election

(Newser) - A potentially big development on the Iran elections tonight: The nation's most prominent clerical group demanded that the results be thrown out and called the new government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad illegitimate, the New York Times reports. The decision may yet collapse under state pressure, but it's a defiant rebuke of...

Iran Police Clash With 3K Protesters

Witness describe chaos at a protest near Tehran mosque

(Newser) - Riot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters near a mosque in north Tehran today, using tear gas and truncheons to break up Iran's first post-election demonstration in 5 days. Witnesses told the AP that some protesters fought back, chanting: "Where is my vote?" They said others described...

Mousavi's Options Shrink as Crackdown Hardens

Battle for Iran moves from the streets to corridors of power

(Newser) - Two weeks after Iran's allegedly rigged presidential election, the regime's clampdown has hardened and left opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with few avenues for protest. The New York Times reports that shouts of "God is great" and "Death to the dictator" continue to echo at...

In the Shadows, Ayatollah's Son Calls the Shots

Mojtaba Khamenei has power throughout the security apparatus

(Newser) - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rarely appears in public and cultivates a shadowy reputation—but even further out of the public eye, his son has become one of the post powerful men in Iran. Ultraconservative cleric Mojtaba Khamenei, believed to be around 50 years old, has connections throughout the Revolutionary Guards and...

Iran Arrests 70 Profs Who Met With Mousavi

Crackdown intensifies as opposition calls off rally

(Newser) - Iranian authorities arrested 70 university professors yesterday, after they met with Mir Hossein Mousavi, according to a dissident website, as the regime intensified its crackdown on demonstrators. The professors' whereabouts are now unknown, but hundreds of activists are now being held in a prison system notorious for torture and human...

Latest Iran Protests Turn Bloody, Witnesses Say

It's like a war zone: witnesses

(Newser) - Hundreds of protesters faced off against several thousand riot cops in a Tehran square today after Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran won’t budge on election results, the Guardian reports. Witnesses called the site a war zone, with helicopters hovering overhead as police savagely beat and arrested demonstrators. The reports could...

Obama Sent Letter to Iran Before Election

Proposed cooperation, improved relations to ayatollah in May

(Newser) - A little more than a month before Iran’s disputed election, the Obama administration sent a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei proposing improved bilateral relations and a resolution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, the Washington Times reports. Khamenei mentioned the letter in a lengthy sermon last week, amid...

Khamenei: We Won't Yield 'At Any Cost'

(Newser) - Ayatollah Khamenei ruled out political compromise today, telling parliament that Tehran would not “yield to pressure at any cost,” the New York Times reports. “I insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue,” he said. He spoke after Mohsen Rezai, one of...

Iranian Press Pushes for Mousavi's Arrest

Pro-regime papers may be laying ground for new crackdown

(Newser) - Several Iranian newspapers sympathetic to the regime have published articles blaming Mir Hossein Mousavi for recent violence, reports the Telegraph. The papers demand that the opposition leader be arrested for treason, a strategy that may be part of an effort to strengthen the position of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Meanwhile, the...

Wallop Iran Where It Hurts: Oil Revenues
Wallop Iran
Where It Hurts:
Oil Revenues
OPINION
Jun 24, 2009 7:58 AM CDT

Wallop Iran Where It Hurts: Oil Revenues

Two 'green' revolutions could bring down regime: Friedman

(Newser) - Pundits and politicians are wasting their time telling Barack Obama what he should be saying about the growing "green revolution" in Iran, writes Thomas L. Friedman. The country's reformers and protesters don't need American encouragement; they need a weakened theocracy—which will only happen when oil prices go into...

Council Asks Ayatollah to Extend Iran Election Probe

(Newser) - The top body investigating the results of the recent election is asking Iran’s supreme leader to give it more time to clear up any and all “ambiguities,” Reuters reports. “We are urging you to allow us to extend the deadline to receive further complaints five more...

Iran Finds Fraud But Calls Election Clean Enough

(Newser) - An eerie silence descended on Tehran early today as Iranian officials admitted to discrepancies in the controversial presidential election, but still declared it legal. More votes were cast in 50 cities than the number of registered voters, officials concluded. But authorities said the discrepancy, which affects some 3 million votes,...

In Choosing Sides, Ayatollah Loses Authority

Ayatollah Khamenei's aura dims as Iranians take to the streets

(Newser) - Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has lost some of the sacrosanct aura of his office by entering the political fray, writes Roger Cohen in the New York Times. Having warned on Friday of "bloodshed and chaos," Iran's supreme leader ended up with both. By aligning himself with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,...

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