Source: truthout

The turmoil following Iran’s disputed presidential election intensified today, after the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered an investigation into claims of vote rigging and an opposition protest rally was cancelled amid fears protestors would be fired upon.

The government declared on Friday that the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had won in a landslide victory, a claim disputed by his rivals headed by the moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi, whose supporters took to the streets and clashed with police.

Iran’s leaders spent the weekend urging people to accept the result but today Khamenei ordered an investigation into claims of vote-rigging and fraud.

Iranian state television said Khamenei had told the guardian council, the clerical body that oversees elections, to examine Mousavi’s claims of widespread vote rigging in Friday’s poll.

The guardian council was reported to have said it would take no more than 10 days to hand down its ruling, following complaints from Mousavi and another candidate, Mohsen Rezai.

“Mousavi and Rezai appealed yesterday. After the official announcement [of the appeal] the guardian council has seven to 10 days to see if it was a healthy election or not,” the ISNA news agency quoted a council spokesman, Abbasali Kadkhodai, as saying.

Today’s news represents a surprising turnaround for Khamenei, who had previously welcomed the results. “Issues must be pursued through a legal channel,” state TV quoted Khamenei as saying. The supreme leader said he has “insisted that the guardian council carefully probe this letter.”

Iranian TV quoted Khamenei urging Mousavi to try to keep the violence from escalating and saying “it is necessary that activities are done with dignity.”

Mousavi has cancelled a rally planned for later today after being warned that militias responsible for policing it would be equipped with live ammunition.

The rally had earlier been banned by Iran’s interior ministry, but it remained unclear whether protesters would take to the streets or not because many may be unaware that the demonstration had been cancelled.

A message broadcast on state radio said: “The interior ministry issued a statement and said no permission had been issued for a rally … the holding of such a gathering would be illegal.”

Ahmadinejad claimed the election results were fair and compared the protests that have taken place over the past three days to the passion shown by football fans after a game.

But in a further sign of the escalating tensions, Ahmadinejad put off a planned visit to Russia, cancelling a meeting planned for today with President Dmitry Medvedev.

The news came as reports spread that dozens of leading members of the opposition had been detained, and that security forces had raided a dormitory at Tehran University, killing three people and injuring 15. The reports could not be confirmed.

Yesterday, Iranians protested against what many have called a “stolen” election.

The official result – 63% for Ahmadinejad and 34% for Mousavi, his main rival – means four more years for the president and an end to hopes for reform at home and perhaps for detente with the west.

But all three contenders to the presidency, reformist and conservative, had raised serious doubts over the result.

Mousavi claimed that, on Friday night, he had been informed by the interior ministry that he had won the election convincingly.

That claim was first published on a popular website which was subsequently closed down.

There were also reports of a leaked interior ministry document which suggested that Ahmadinejad had come third in the vote.

Mousavi has also challenged the decision by Iran’s supreme leader to endorse the official results. He is reported to have met Khamenei and asked him to reconsider that endorsement.

In a letter to the guardian council, a powerful clerical body that oversees ­elections, Mousavi is also reported to have said: “Fraud is evident and review and nullification is requested.”

A spokesman for the politician said: “I have been asked to warn the world that this is a coup d’etat, and Mousavi has asked for the world’s governments not to recognise a president created by a coup.”

Protests continued across Tehran yesterday, and were still going on as night fell.

Clashes in Vali Asr were short and repetitive – police charged and demonstrators retreated.

Later, in Vanak Square, children burned rubbish carts, sending acrid black smoke into the air.

Unconfirmed reports spoke of two deaths in Shahrak Gharb, a wealthy suburb of Tehran.

“For years, Iranian TV has shown Israeli forces attacking innocent people in Palestine,” Shervin Elahverdi, a 21-year-old student, said. “But these riot police are more brutal than them.”

Outside the capital, clashes between demonstrators and security forces were also reported in Mashad, Tabriz and Shiraz. But disrupted communications made it hard to confirm them.

In some places, protests were not possible. Tehran University dormitories were surrounded, and the interior ministry was cordoned off as special forces units kitted up and moved off in black trucks.

The scale of the crackdown became clear on Saturday. Local and international phone calls were blocked, as were SMS messaging, Facebook and other networking sites used by opposition activists. Newspapers were ordered by the intelligence ministry not to report trouble.

One, Etemad-e-Melli, which backed Mehdi Karroubi’s presidential candidacy, appeared today with the bottom half of its front page blank.

Ahmadinejad has rejected claims of fraud as a “psychological war” by the foreign media.

At a victory speech, he told tens of thousands of his supporters: “Some say the vote is disrupted, there has been fraud. Where are the irregularities?”

In a speech punctuated by roars of approval, he said: “Some people want democracy only for their own sake. Some want elections, freedom, a sound election. They recognise it only as long as the result favours them.”

Last night, the US vice-president, Joe Biden, said there was “some real doubt” over the result as the White House raised concern over “irregularities”.