Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday as the rightful winner of a presidential election that has sparked the biggest street protests in the Islamic Republic's history.
In his first address to the nation since the upheaval began, Ayatollah Khamenei demanded an end to the demonstrations and denied any possibility that the poll a week ago had been rigged, as Mr. Ahmadinejad's opponents have asserted.
“The result of the election comes from the ballot box, not from the street,” he told tens of thousands of worshippers who had gathered in and around Tehran University for Friday prayers. “Today the Iranian nation needs calm.”
Here are some highlights from Khamenei's address.
"I am urging them to end street protests, otherwise they will be responsible for its consequences, and consequences of any chaos.
"The result of the election comes out of the ballot box, not from the street."
"If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible."
"Differences of opinion do exist between officials which is natural. But it does not mean there is a rift in the system.
"Ever since the last presidential election there existed differences of opinion between (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and (former president Akbar Hashemi) Rafsanjani.
"Of course my outlook is closer to that of Ahmadinejad in domestic and foreign policy."
"The enemies (of Iran) are targeting the Islamic establishment's legitimacy by questioning the election and its authenticity before and after (the vote)."
"After street protests, some foreign powers ... started to interfere in Iran's state matters by questioning the result of the vote. They do not know the Iranian nation. I strongly condemn such interference.
"American officials remarks about human rights and limitations on people are not acceptable because they have no idea about human rights after what they have done in Afghanistan and Iran and other parts of the world. We do not need advice over human rights from them."
"It's a wrong impression that by using street protests as a pressure tool, they can compel officials to accept their illegal demands. This would be the start of a dictatorship."
"Iran's laws do not allow vote-rigging ... With these laws, how could it be possible to have such vote-rigging." (Reporting by Fredrik Dahl, Parisa Hafezi, Dominic Evans and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran; Editing by Richard Williams)
He said Iran's enemies were targeting the legitimacy of the Islamic establishment by disputing the outcome of the election.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the election showed off the country's religious democracy for the world to see. He said that if the Iranian people did not feel free they would not have gone to the polls in such huge numbers as they did during the June 12th election.
The protests by supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, runner-up in the poll, are the largest and most widespread since the revolution in Iran, which is also at odds with the West over its nuclear program.
Ayatollah Khamenei said politicians should shun extremism and would be responsible for any bloodshed due to “extremist behaviour,” adding that street protests would not pressure the establishment into accepting “illegal demands” of losing candidates.
Mr. Mousavi has called for the election result to be annulled.
The Supreme Leader, Iran's ultimate authority, in theory stands above the factional fray, but Ayatollah Khamenei acknowledged that his views on foreign and domestic policy were closer to those of Mr. Ahmadinejad than to those of the hard-line president's foes.
People chanting slogans and holding posters of Ayatollah Khamenei, Mr. Ahmadinejad and the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the father of the 1979 Islamic revolution, packed streets outside the university.
At least one police helicopter hovered overhead.
“Ahmadinejad has been our president for four years, and during this time he has always told the truth to our people,” said Javid Abbasirad, 48, outside the university gates.
At the same venue, hundreds of university students had demonstrated in support of Mr. Mousavi on Sunday, hurling stones at riot police trying to disperse protesters outside the gates.
Some in the crowd for Friday prayers were draped in Iranian flags. Others held placards with anti-Western slogans.
“Don't let the history of Iran be written with the pen of foreigners,” one flyer said, reflecting official Iranian anger at international criticism of the post-election violence.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has muted its comments to keep the door ajar for possible dialogue.
A group of clerics and citizens left the holy city of Qom for a 150-kilometre walk to Tehran in a show of support for Ayatollah Khamenei, state radio and television reported.
Ayatollah Khamenei's speech followed six days of protests by Mousavi supporters. On Thursday, tens of thousands of black-clad marchers bore candles to mourn those killed in earlier rallies.
Iranian state media has reported seven or eight people killed in protests since the election results were published on June 13. Scores of reformists have been arrested and authorities have cracked down on both foreign and domestic media.
So far, protesters have focused on the results of the balloting rather than challenging the Islamic system of government. But a shift in anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy could result in a showdown over the foundation of Iran's system of rule.
Even Mr. Ahmadinejad has appeared to take the growing opposition more seriously and backtracked on his previous dismissal of the protesters as “dust” and sore losers.
“I was only addressing those who rioted, set fires and attack people. I said they are nothing,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a previously taped video shown Thursday on state TV. “Every single Iranian is valuable. Government is a service to all.”
The crowds in Tehran and elsewhere have been able to organize despite a government clampdown on the Internet and cell phones. The government has blocked certain websites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are vital conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence.
Text messaging, which is a primary source of spreading information in Tehran, has not been working since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down. The government also has barred foreign news organizations from reporting on Tehran's streets.
Ahmadinejad's beliefs:
the destruction of Israel, world chaos, the return of the Mahdi and global Islamic theocratic rule
...When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."
The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.
One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well.
All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour - denied by the government but widely believed - is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.
Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.
He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.
This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.
Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.
The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?...
People drop messages to the Mahdi down the holy well, because they believe the Mahdi disappeared in A.D. 941, down the well at age 5, and is waiting to return. This would seem to imply they believe he is somehow still down there... reading their messages?
And that comment about the airplane crash victims dying showing the way to martydom that the Iranian people must follow... I suppose it's not really suprising, when you consider that even the students in Iran's state schools are taught to prepare for death by martyrdom. Can you say "death cult"?
...Shiite Muslims believe that the Twelfth Imam disappeared down a well near Jamkaran in A.D. 941, and will emerge from this location at his Second Coming. But first, they believe, the world will go through great calamities and upheavals. This "apocalypse" will set the conditions for the Mahdi's return...
...Ahmadinejad has taken up the banner of the Hidden Imam. His hate-filled rhetoric aimed at the Jews and America is stirring fanatical Muslims the world over...
...As days pass, Ahmadinejad becomes more defiant. It is as if he is daring the nations of the world to try to stop him. How far will he go?
Will he, indeed, launch a murderous attack against Israel or the United States in a misguided attempt to see his dream of the return of the Hidden Imam come to fruition?...
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