Death toll rises in Iran; Tehran's sharp words for the West

Jun 21, 2009, 15:38 GMT

An image received through Demotix shows Iranians, supporters of Iranian Presidential elections candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi taking part in a protest in Tehran, Iran, 20 June 2009. Clashes between supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi and Iranian security forces erupted in Tehran in 20 June, a day after the country\'s supreme leader had warned against renewed protests. EPA/ANDO / DEMOTIX IMAGES

Amid a rising death toll, Iran's post-election turmoil began Sunday to spill over into the international diplomatic field with Tehran using sharp language to blame the West for the tensions.

Iran's official media reported that at least 10 persons were killed in Saturday's clashes between government security forces and opposition protesters.

In addition to the seven previously reported killed in earlier demos, it brought the death toll to at least 17 in the violence since the controversial June 12 presidential election.

State television in Tehran, in an apparent bid to discredit the opposition, presented interviews with purported rioters, who were described as drug traffickers and counter-revolutionary elements.

At the same time, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - whose declared victory over his opponents, chiefly Mir-Hossein Moussavi, triggered the street protests - Sunday appeared to be unperturbed by the latest violence, ignoring any mention of the protests.

In remarks, Ahmadinejad termed the high turnout in the June 12 vote as an undeniable victory for Iran and said it proved once again that 40 million Iranians still loved the Islamic system.

   Ahmadinejad added that he and his government were determined to take the country on the road to progress.

He also made remarks blaming Western countries and mentioned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama by name.

   'Definitely such an approach (doubting election legitimacy) would not put them into the friendship circle of the Iran nation and they should seriously revise their stance,' Ahmadinejad said.

   His mention of Obama follows on the US president's remarks Saturday urging Tehran to halt violent repression of protests and saying that the US supported demonstrators who were exercising their universal rights to free expression.

Even sharper were the tones used by Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki in a meeting with diplomats in which he singled out France - he called it a great nation now run by 'midgets' - Germany, Britain and the US for pursuing wrong policies in the region.

   Mottaki alleged that 'Great Britain has plotted against the presidential election for more than two years. We witnessed an influx of people before the election. Elements linked to the British secret service were flying in in droves.'

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband immediately blasted Mottaki's comments, and suggested that he was trying to divert attention from Iran's internal problems.

   'Mottaki's attempt ... to turn the dispute among Iranians about the election results into a battle between Iran and other countries - the UK in particular - is without foundation,' he said.

In a related development, the Iranian parliament called Sunday for a revision of diplomatic ties with Britain, France and Germany for their having doubted the election results and siding with the opposition, state television network IRIB reported.

   Speaker Ali Larijani termed the stance and relevant statements by the three EU states as 'a shame' and called on the parliament's foreign policy commission to put the revision of ties on its agenda.

While Tehran was taking a sharp tone towards the West, former president Mohammad Khatami warned that the country was moving towards martial law.

   'I am worried that security and military is gradually prevailing over the country's atmosphere,' Khatami said in statement carried by the website of Moussavi.

   The reformist cleric blamed the government of insulting demonstrators - protesting against alleged election fraud - and linking them to foreign governments.

   'Banning the people from legal protests means opening the way for dangerous measures which God knows would eventually lead to,' Khatami warned, while also criticizing the arrest wave of protestors and of former officials, including his former deputy Mohammad-Ali Abtahi.

   The cleric however expressed hope that 'there would still be a way out ... (if) opportunities were properly used and not turned into threats.'

   To this end, he said, all detainess should be immediately released and the communication means such as mobile, SMS and Internet systems should be opened or normalized.

   Since the unrest which started on June 13, the SMS system has been cut off, mobile phone transmissions interrupted during demonstration hours and Internet speed has been drastically decreased.

Meanwhile the daughter of Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi- Rafsanjani and four relatives were arrested over their involvement in protests against alleged election fraud in Iran, the Fars news agency reported Sunday.

   Faezeh Hashemi, a renowned women's rights activist, former parliament deputy and head of women's sports in Iran, has in the recent years emerged as one of the main opponents of Ahmadinejad.

Amid the ongoing clampdown by Iran on foreign news media trying to report on developments, British Broadcasting Corporation BBC in a terse announcement Sunday said its correspondent in Tehran has been asked to leave the country.

   'With regret, Jon Leyne, the BBC's permanent correspondent in Tehran, has been asked to leave by the Iranian authorities,' the BBC said. 'The BBC office remains open.'