TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s election dispute has moved beyond the drama of mass street protests to a new phase: a fight for power within the ruling religious establishment itself. The conflict escalated as the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, backed by hard-line clerics and the Revolutionary Guard, issued a warning to the opposition in general and powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in particular.”The elite should be watchful, since they have been faced with a big test. Failing the test will cause their collapse,” Khamenei said Monday in a speech marking a religious holiday. “Anybody who drives the society toward insecurity and disorder is a hated person in the view of the Iranian nation, whoever he is.” The opposition was emboldened when Rafsanjani stepped into the fray with a Friday prayer sermon that sharply criticized the leadership’s handling of the postelection crisis.
Iran election dispute escalates to new phase
July 20, 2009