Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards threaten to crush protests

by Jay Deshmukh Jay Deshmukh

June 22, 2009

TEHRAN (AFP) –

Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned on Monday it would crush further demonstrations over the disputed presidential election after the opposition defiantly vowed to press on with its protests.

The Guards -- an elite force set up to protect the Islamic republic in the wake of the 1979 revolution -- warned of a "decisive and revolutionary" riposte to any further unrest.

The warning came after state radio said at least 457 people had been detained in street clashes in Tehran on Saturday that left 10 people dead, bringing the overall toll from a week of violence to at least 17.

As the (goverenment) struggles to contain the biggest upheaval in 30 years, Iran's election watchdog the Guardians Council acknowledged discrepancies in the June 12 vote but insisted they would not alter the outcomes.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has led a wave of massive protests over what he says was a rigged election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power, urged supporters to continue demonstrating but to adopt "self-restraint" to avoid more bloodshed.

But the Guards -- echoing a warning by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday -- said it strongly condemned the "illegal path" taken by "deceived elements" and demanded an end to "rioting and vandalism," in a statement quoted by the Mehr news agency.

"If not, they should expect a decisive and revolutionary confrontation from the children of the Iranian nation in the Guards, the Basij militia and other police and security forces to end the mutiny and riots."

Since the turmoil began, Iranian security forces have cracked down on demonstrators and many hundreds of protestors as well as prominent reformists, journalists and analysts have been arrested.

World leaders have voiced mounting alarm over the unrest, which has jolted the pillars of the Islamic regime and raised concerns over (Iran), the fourth largest oil producer in the world.

Ahmadinejad, who had put Iran on a collision course with the West during his first four-year term with his anti-Israeli tirades and defiant stance on the country's nuclear drive, was declared the victor with 63 percent of the vote.

But Iranian leaders have lashed out at "meddling" by Western nations -- particularly the United States and Britain and accused the foreign media, already facing tight restrictions on their work, of fomenting the unrest.

Iran's foreign ministry took aim at global broadcasters the BBC and Voice of America, saying they were Israeli agents who aimed to "weaken the national solidarity, threaten territorial integrity and disintegrate Iran."

Iran has ordered the BBC correspondent in Tehran to leave the country, while student unions are planning demonstrations outside the British embassy on Tuesday to protest at interference by the "perverted government of Britain."

The streets of Tehran were tense on Monday but there were no reports of any planned demonstrations.

Footage broadcast on the Internet has shown scenes of brutal violence, with one video viewed by hundreds of thousands around the globe purportedly showing a bloodstained young woman named Neda reportedly killed when hit by a bullet in Tehran.

The 12-member Guardians Council acknowledged vote discrepancies, saying its preliminary investigation revealed that the number of ballots cast in 50 of the total 366 electoral districts exceeded the number of eligible voters.

But spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said there were "no irregularities" and insisted any recount "will not change the election outcome much."

Mousavi and his two fellow defeated presidential challengers have complained that there were more votes than voters in up to 170 districts, and have listed 646 irregularities.

"To protest against lies and fraud is your right. Be hopeful that you will get your right and do not allow others who want to provoke your anger... to prevail," Mousavi said on his newspaper website Kalemeh.

But the post-revolution premier urged his supporters -- who have adopted his green campaign colour -- to refrain from violence and show self-restraint.

British think-tank Chatham House said on Sunday the results showed "irregularities" in the turnout and "highly implausible" swings to Ahmadinejad.

Even senior Iranian figures have raised concerns over the vote.

"A large portion of the people perceived the election result to be different to the one officially announced. This perception must be respected," parliament speaker Ali Larijani said.

And in a further sign on cracks within Iran's elite, five members of influential cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's family, including his high-profile daughter Faezeh Hashemi, were detained by the authorities for at least 24 hours.

Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the US Senate Intelligence Committee, backed President Barack Obama's cautious response to the turmoil, saying: "It is very crucial, as I see it, that we (do) not have our fingerprints on this."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband rejected the charges that protesters were being "manipulated or motivated" by foreign nations and denounced what he said were Iran's effort to turn the election dispute into a "battle" with the outside world.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner condemned what he called "this brutal repression" while President Nicolas Sarkozy said the attitude of the Iranian authorities was "inexcusable".

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.