kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
Well, at least with them tuna uhakika wa safety, ingawa wanazo, si kama yule kichaa wa N. korea anayetaka kuendelea na mazoezi yake halafu this time anayaelekeza hawii.
Iranian Elections: Ahmedinejad's Victory and The Aftermath!
Iranian Elections: Ahmedinejad's Victory and The Aftermath!
- Thread starter Ab-Titchaz
- Start date
Well, at least with them tuna uhakika wa safety, ingawa wanazo, si kama yule kichaa wa N. korea anayetaka kuendelea na mazoezi yake halafu this time anayaelekeza hawii.
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
- 122,540
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
Dear, they're not doing anything with them!, safe assured na wamarekani, you can compare them with, let's Pakistan ilivo sasa na nukes zao.
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
Mwenzangu hao tena...to them it's like, who will blink first...
Nyani Ngabu
Platinum Member
- May 15, 2006
- 94,296
- 122,540
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
I don't think that will happen again...history is still judging and condeming them...
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
Don't think so, at least not in the near future...
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
Trust me, you don't wanna do that...
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
At least for now, we can trust this President...
Naenda ku nap, wake me up after two hours so we can go out for dinner...where do you want to go today?? usiseme Kempinski, nimepachoka. We can go there t'morrow afternoon so I can swim.
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
kui
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 6,467
- 6,499
Poa, later.
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
Iran's Mousavi says ready for "martyrdom": ally
By Parisa Hafezi – 2 hrs 39 mins ago
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said he was "ready for martyrdom," according to an ally, in leading protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic and brought warnings of bloodshed from Iran's Supreme Leader.
Mousavi also called on Saturday for a national strike if he is arrested, a witness said. As darkness fell, rooftop cries of Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) sounded out across northern Tehran for nearly an hour, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 Islamic revolution against the Shah.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
In an act fraught with symbolic significance, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the mausoleum of the father of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, while unrest continued across Tehran in defiance of a ban on demonstrations.
Riot police deployed in force, firing teargas, using batons and water cannon to disperse protesters.
Witnesses said 2,000 to 3,000 were on the streets, fewer than the hundreds of thousands earlier in the week, but a clear challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who used a speech on Friday to endorse disputed election results that gave hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.
Defeated candidate Mousavi, a product of the Islamic establishment himself and a former prime minister, made clear he would not back down.
"In a public address in southwestern Tehran, Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path," a Mousavi ally, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone from the Jeyhun street in Tehran.
A witness to the address said Mousavi, center of protests unprecedented in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic, appeared to anticipate action against him.
"Mousavi called on people to go on national strike if he gets arrested," the witness told Reuters.
Mousavi demanded the elections be annulled.
"These disgusting measures (election rigging) were planned months ahead of the vote ... considering all the violations ... the election should be annulled," Mousavi said in a letter to the country's top legislative body.
The scale of the demonstrations in Iran, a major oil exporter embroiled in dispute with major powers over its nuclear program, has taken Iranians and foreign governments by surprise. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in largely peaceful protests, though state media said seven or eight protesters were shot dead earlier in the week.
The attack on the mausoleum of Islamic revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini was likely to inflame passions among Iranians who revere the man who led a movement that overthrew the Western-backed Shah in 1979. It was not clear who carried out the bombing, confirmed by police; but such an incident could be cited by authorities in justifying a crackdown.
The bomber was killed and three others were wounded, according to the English-language Press TV.
Supporters of Mousavi set on fire a building in southern Tehran used by backers of President Ahmadinejad, a witness said.
The witness also said police shot into the air to disperse rival supporters in Tehran's south Karegar street.
Iran's highest legislative body said it was ready to recount a random 10 percent of the votes cast in the June 12 poll to meet the complaints of Mousavi and two other candidates who lost to Ahmadinejad.
WAFTS OF TEARGAS
Teargas billowed up from Enghelab (Revolution) Square as riot police confronted demonstrators, a witness said.
The Etemad-e Melli party of losing candidate Mehdi Karoubi said plans for a rally had been scrapped for lack of a permit and an ally of Mousavi said the moderate politician had not summoned his followers back to the streets.
Press TV showed footage of a burning bus, without saying where the incident occurred. It also said protesters set fire to a mosque and a number of cars and buses following clashes with police. After dark, calls of Allahu Akbar alternated with chants of "We support you, Mirhossein," ringing out over rooftops.
The 12-man Guardian Council, which must certify the result of the election, announced plans for a partial recount.
"Although the Guardian Council is not legally obliged ... we are ready to recount 10 percent of the (ballot) boxes randomly in the presence of representatives of the three (defeated) candidates," a council spokesman said.
The council had invited Mousavi, Karoubi and a third candidate, Mohsen Rezaie, to raise their complaints at a special session. But only Rezaie, a conservative who is a former Revolutionary Guard commander, attended.
Witnesses said they had seen Basij Islamic militia deploying across Tehran and one resident saw at least three buses full of Basij heading for the capital from the nearby city of Karaj on Saturday, as well as four trucks full of the motorcycles used by Basij militiamen during previous demonstrations.
"If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible," the white-bearded Khamenei told huge crowds thronging Tehran University for Friday prayers.
Scores of reformists have been arrested and authorities have cracked down on foreign and domestic media.
In a sign of defiance, Mousavi backers took to Tehran rooftops after nightfall on Friday to shout Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), a deliberate echo of tactics in the 1979 revolution.
Source: Reuters
By Parisa Hafezi – 2 hrs 39 mins ago
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi said he was "ready for martyrdom," according to an ally, in leading protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic and brought warnings of bloodshed from Iran's Supreme Leader.
Mousavi also called on Saturday for a national strike if he is arrested, a witness said. As darkness fell, rooftop cries of Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) sounded out across northern Tehran for nearly an hour, an echo of tactics used in the 1979 Islamic revolution against the Shah.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.
In an act fraught with symbolic significance, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the mausoleum of the father of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, while unrest continued across Tehran in defiance of a ban on demonstrations.
Riot police deployed in force, firing teargas, using batons and water cannon to disperse protesters.
Witnesses said 2,000 to 3,000 were on the streets, fewer than the hundreds of thousands earlier in the week, but a clear challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who used a speech on Friday to endorse disputed election results that gave hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.
Defeated candidate Mousavi, a product of the Islamic establishment himself and a former prime minister, made clear he would not back down.
"In a public address in southwestern Tehran, Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path," a Mousavi ally, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone from the Jeyhun street in Tehran.
A witness to the address said Mousavi, center of protests unprecedented in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic, appeared to anticipate action against him.
"Mousavi called on people to go on national strike if he gets arrested," the witness told Reuters.
Mousavi demanded the elections be annulled.
"These disgusting measures (election rigging) were planned months ahead of the vote ... considering all the violations ... the election should be annulled," Mousavi said in a letter to the country's top legislative body.
The scale of the demonstrations in Iran, a major oil exporter embroiled in dispute with major powers over its nuclear program, has taken Iranians and foreign governments by surprise. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in largely peaceful protests, though state media said seven or eight protesters were shot dead earlier in the week.
The attack on the mausoleum of Islamic revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini was likely to inflame passions among Iranians who revere the man who led a movement that overthrew the Western-backed Shah in 1979. It was not clear who carried out the bombing, confirmed by police; but such an incident could be cited by authorities in justifying a crackdown.
The bomber was killed and three others were wounded, according to the English-language Press TV.
Supporters of Mousavi set on fire a building in southern Tehran used by backers of President Ahmadinejad, a witness said.
The witness also said police shot into the air to disperse rival supporters in Tehran's south Karegar street.
Iran's highest legislative body said it was ready to recount a random 10 percent of the votes cast in the June 12 poll to meet the complaints of Mousavi and two other candidates who lost to Ahmadinejad.
WAFTS OF TEARGAS
Teargas billowed up from Enghelab (Revolution) Square as riot police confronted demonstrators, a witness said.
The Etemad-e Melli party of losing candidate Mehdi Karoubi said plans for a rally had been scrapped for lack of a permit and an ally of Mousavi said the moderate politician had not summoned his followers back to the streets.
Press TV showed footage of a burning bus, without saying where the incident occurred. It also said protesters set fire to a mosque and a number of cars and buses following clashes with police. After dark, calls of Allahu Akbar alternated with chants of "We support you, Mirhossein," ringing out over rooftops.
The 12-man Guardian Council, which must certify the result of the election, announced plans for a partial recount.
"Although the Guardian Council is not legally obliged ... we are ready to recount 10 percent of the (ballot) boxes randomly in the presence of representatives of the three (defeated) candidates," a council spokesman said.
The council had invited Mousavi, Karoubi and a third candidate, Mohsen Rezaie, to raise their complaints at a special session. But only Rezaie, a conservative who is a former Revolutionary Guard commander, attended.
Witnesses said they had seen Basij Islamic militia deploying across Tehran and one resident saw at least three buses full of Basij heading for the capital from the nearby city of Karaj on Saturday, as well as four trucks full of the motorcycles used by Basij militiamen during previous demonstrations.
"If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible," the white-bearded Khamenei told huge crowds thronging Tehran University for Friday prayers.
Scores of reformists have been arrested and authorities have cracked down on foreign and domestic media.
In a sign of defiance, Mousavi backers took to Tehran rooftops after nightfall on Friday to shout Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), a deliberate echo of tactics in the 1979 revolution.
Source: Reuters
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
Defiant Tehran protesters battle police
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writers – 49 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Thousands of protesters defied Iran's highest authority Saturday and marched on waiting security forces that fought back with baton charges, tear gas and water cannons as the crisis over disputed elections lurched into volatile new ground.
In a separate incident, a state-run television channel reported that a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed at least two people and wounded eight. The report could be not independently evaluated due to government restrictions on journalists.
If proven true, the reports could enrage conservatives and bring strains among Mousavi's backers. Another state channel broadcast images of broken glass but no other damage or casualties, and showed a witness saying three people had been wounded.
The extent of injuries in the street battles also was unclear. Some witnesses said dozens were hurt and gunfire was heard.
The clashes along one of Tehran's main avenues - as described by witnesses - had far fewer demonstrators than recent mass rallies for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. But they marked another blow to authorities who sought to intimidate protesters with harsh warnings and lines of black-clad police three deep in places.
The rallies also left questions about Mousavi's ability to hold together his protest movement, which claims that widespread fraud in June 12 elections robbed Mousavi of victory and kept hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office.
Mousavi bewildered many followers by not directly replying to the ultimatum issued Friday by Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His stern order to Mousavi and others: Call off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for "bloodshed, violence and rioting."
A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become "exhausting, bothersome and intolerable." He threatened a more "serious confrontation" if protesters return.
Mousavi's silence was broken after the melee with another call to annul the election results. But there was no mention of the clashes - suggesting he wants to distance himself from the violence and possibly opening the door for more militant factions to break away.
Amateur video showed clashes erupting in the southern city of Shiraz and witnesses reported street violence in Isfahan, south of Tehran.
"I think the regime has taken an enormous risk in confronting this situation in the manner that they have," said Mehrdad Khonsari, a consultant to the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies.
"Now they'll have to hold their ground and hope that people don't keep coming back," he added. "But history has taught us that people in these situations lose their initial sense of fear and become emboldened by brutality."
In Washington, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people." He said the United States "stands by all who seek to exercise" the universal rights to assembly and free speech.
Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach.
Full details of the street battles could not be obtained because of Iranian media restrictions. But witnesses described scenes that could sharply escalate the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
An estimated 3,000 marchers - some chanting "Death to dictatorship!" - marched directly onto a blockade of security forces keeping them from approaching Azadi Square, where Mousavi gathered hundreds of thousands of people on Monday.
Police first fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters, witnesses said. Then came a second wave. It included volunteer militiamen on motorcycles chasing down demonstrators.
Witnesses claimed some marchers were beaten with batons by security forces or metal pipes wielded by the militiamen known as Basijis, who are directed by the powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Protesters lit trash bins on fire - sending pillars of black smoke over the city - and hurled rocks. Some managed to wrestle away a few motorcycles and set them ablaze.
One witness told The Associated Press that people came from apartments to aid the wounded demonstrators or allowed them to take shelter. Helicopters hovered over central Tehran until dusk.
The witnesses told AP that between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to Imam Khomeini hospital in central Tehran. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.
Nearby, Tehran University was cordoned off by police and militia.
On the streets, witnesses said some protesters also shouted "Death to Khamenei!" - another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the authority of the successor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution.
All witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared government reprisals. Iranian authorities have placed strict limits on the ability of foreign media to cover events, banning reporting from the street and allowing only phone interviews and information from officials sources such as state TV.
Mousavi, who served was prime minister during the 1980s, is not believed to seek the collapse of the Islamic system. But he claims that state powers were abused to skew the election results and re-elect Ahmadinejad in a landslide.
That stand has increasingly brought him and his supporters into direct confrontation with Iran's highest authorities.
Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad on Friday, saying the vote reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end street protests.
A report on Press TV listed the fallout from the unrest, including 700 buildings and 300 banks damaged and 400 police hurt. It gave no similar list for the protesters. At least seven people have died, according to the official Iranian count, but the total could be more.
Mousavi's extremely slim hope of having the election results annulled rest with Iran's Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts. But Mousavi and another moderate candidate in the race, Mahdi Karroubi, did not appear at a meeting called to discuss their allegations of fraud, a council official told state TV.
The council has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities.
In a letter to the council, posted on one of Mousavi's Web site, he listed alleged violations that include his representatives being expelled from polling stations and fake ballots at some mobile polling stations.
The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies.
"They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way," he said.
Source: AP
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writers – 49 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran – Thousands of protesters defied Iran's highest authority Saturday and marched on waiting security forces that fought back with baton charges, tear gas and water cannons as the crisis over disputed elections lurched into volatile new ground.
In a separate incident, a state-run television channel reported that a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed at least two people and wounded eight. The report could be not independently evaluated due to government restrictions on journalists.
If proven true, the reports could enrage conservatives and bring strains among Mousavi's backers. Another state channel broadcast images of broken glass but no other damage or casualties, and showed a witness saying three people had been wounded.
The extent of injuries in the street battles also was unclear. Some witnesses said dozens were hurt and gunfire was heard.
The clashes along one of Tehran's main avenues - as described by witnesses - had far fewer demonstrators than recent mass rallies for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. But they marked another blow to authorities who sought to intimidate protesters with harsh warnings and lines of black-clad police three deep in places.
The rallies also left questions about Mousavi's ability to hold together his protest movement, which claims that widespread fraud in June 12 elections robbed Mousavi of victory and kept hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office.
Mousavi bewildered many followers by not directly replying to the ultimatum issued Friday by Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His stern order to Mousavi and others: Call off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for "bloodshed, violence and rioting."
A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become "exhausting, bothersome and intolerable." He threatened a more "serious confrontation" if protesters return.
Mousavi's silence was broken after the melee with another call to annul the election results. But there was no mention of the clashes - suggesting he wants to distance himself from the violence and possibly opening the door for more militant factions to break away.
Amateur video showed clashes erupting in the southern city of Shiraz and witnesses reported street violence in Isfahan, south of Tehran.
"I think the regime has taken an enormous risk in confronting this situation in the manner that they have," said Mehrdad Khonsari, a consultant to the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies.
"Now they'll have to hold their ground and hope that people don't keep coming back," he added. "But history has taught us that people in these situations lose their initial sense of fear and become emboldened by brutality."
In Washington, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people." He said the United States "stands by all who seek to exercise" the universal rights to assembly and free speech.
Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach.
Full details of the street battles could not be obtained because of Iranian media restrictions. But witnesses described scenes that could sharply escalate the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
An estimated 3,000 marchers - some chanting "Death to dictatorship!" - marched directly onto a blockade of security forces keeping them from approaching Azadi Square, where Mousavi gathered hundreds of thousands of people on Monday.
Police first fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters, witnesses said. Then came a second wave. It included volunteer militiamen on motorcycles chasing down demonstrators.
Witnesses claimed some marchers were beaten with batons by security forces or metal pipes wielded by the militiamen known as Basijis, who are directed by the powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Protesters lit trash bins on fire - sending pillars of black smoke over the city - and hurled rocks. Some managed to wrestle away a few motorcycles and set them ablaze.
One witness told The Associated Press that people came from apartments to aid the wounded demonstrators or allowed them to take shelter. Helicopters hovered over central Tehran until dusk.
The witnesses told AP that between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to Imam Khomeini hospital in central Tehran. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.
Nearby, Tehran University was cordoned off by police and militia.
On the streets, witnesses said some protesters also shouted "Death to Khamenei!" - another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the authority of the successor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution.
All witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared government reprisals. Iranian authorities have placed strict limits on the ability of foreign media to cover events, banning reporting from the street and allowing only phone interviews and information from officials sources such as state TV.
Mousavi, who served was prime minister during the 1980s, is not believed to seek the collapse of the Islamic system. But he claims that state powers were abused to skew the election results and re-elect Ahmadinejad in a landslide.
That stand has increasingly brought him and his supporters into direct confrontation with Iran's highest authorities.
Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad on Friday, saying the vote reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end street protests.
A report on Press TV listed the fallout from the unrest, including 700 buildings and 300 banks damaged and 400 police hurt. It gave no similar list for the protesters. At least seven people have died, according to the official Iranian count, but the total could be more.
Mousavi's extremely slim hope of having the election results annulled rest with Iran's Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts. But Mousavi and another moderate candidate in the race, Mahdi Karroubi, did not appear at a meeting called to discuss their allegations of fraud, a council official told state TV.
The council has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities.
In a letter to the council, posted on one of Mousavi's Web site, he listed alleged violations that include his representatives being expelled from polling stations and fake ballots at some mobile polling stations.
The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies.
"They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way," he said.
Source: AP
MwanaFalsafa1
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 26, 2008
- 5,565
- 843
Obama to Iran's leaders: Stop 'unjust' actions
By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 6 mins ago
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Saturday challenged Iran's government to halt a "violent and unjust" crackdown on dissenters, using his bluntest language yet to condemn Tehran's postelection response.
Obama has sought a measured reaction to avoid being drawn in as a meddler in Iranian affairs. Yet his comments have grown more pointed as the clashes intensified, and his latest remarks took direct aim at Iranian leaders.
"We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people," Obama said in a written statement. "The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."
Obama has searched for the right tone in light of political pressures on all sides. On Capitol Hill, Congress pressed him to condemn the Iranian government's response. In Iran, the leadership was poised to blame the U.S. for interference and draw Obama in more directly.
Obama met with advisers at the White House as developments in Iran grew more ominous, with police seen beating protesters.
"Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," the president said, recalling a theme from the speech he gave in Cairo, Egypt, this month.
"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government," Obama said. "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."
Protesters in Iran have demanded that government cancel and rerun the June 12 elections that ended with a declaration of overwhelming victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says he won and claimed widespread fraud.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there was no ballot rigging. He warned of a crackdown if protesters continued their massive street rallies.
Then on Saturday, police beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in open defiance of Iran's clerical government. Witnesses described fierce clashes after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" in downtown Tehran.
Obama's criticism came one day after both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn the actions by the Iranian government against demonstrators and moves to interfere with Internet and cell phone communications. That was seen in part as a veiled criticism of Obama's response, too.
The president already was on record as saying the United States stood behind those who were seeking justice in a peaceful way. He responded to critics that he hadn't been forceful enough in support of protesters, telling CBS News: "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do."
That was Friday, before the conflict in Iran appeared to deepen.
Obama has refrained from passing final judgment on the underlying question of the legitimacy of the election itself, although he has expressed "deep concerns" about it.
The president returned Saturday to his theme that the world is watching the way the Iranian government's response.
Obama cited Martin Luther King's statement that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
"I believe that," the president said. "The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people's belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."
Police clashed with protesters around Tehran immediately after the presidential election and gunfire from a militia compound left at least seven dead, but further force remained in check until Saturday's developments.
source: AP
By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 6 mins ago
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Saturday challenged Iran's government to halt a "violent and unjust" crackdown on dissenters, using his bluntest language yet to condemn Tehran's postelection response.
Obama has sought a measured reaction to avoid being drawn in as a meddler in Iranian affairs. Yet his comments have grown more pointed as the clashes intensified, and his latest remarks took direct aim at Iranian leaders.
"We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people," Obama said in a written statement. "The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."
Obama has searched for the right tone in light of political pressures on all sides. On Capitol Hill, Congress pressed him to condemn the Iranian government's response. In Iran, the leadership was poised to blame the U.S. for interference and draw Obama in more directly.
Obama met with advisers at the White House as developments in Iran grew more ominous, with police seen beating protesters.
"Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," the president said, recalling a theme from the speech he gave in Cairo, Egypt, this month.
"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government," Obama said. "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."
Protesters in Iran have demanded that government cancel and rerun the June 12 elections that ended with a declaration of overwhelming victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says he won and claimed widespread fraud.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there was no ballot rigging. He warned of a crackdown if protesters continued their massive street rallies.
Then on Saturday, police beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in open defiance of Iran's clerical government. Witnesses described fierce clashes after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" in downtown Tehran.
Obama's criticism came one day after both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn the actions by the Iranian government against demonstrators and moves to interfere with Internet and cell phone communications. That was seen in part as a veiled criticism of Obama's response, too.
The president already was on record as saying the United States stood behind those who were seeking justice in a peaceful way. He responded to critics that he hadn't been forceful enough in support of protesters, telling CBS News: "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do."
That was Friday, before the conflict in Iran appeared to deepen.
Obama has refrained from passing final judgment on the underlying question of the legitimacy of the election itself, although he has expressed "deep concerns" about it.
The president returned Saturday to his theme that the world is watching the way the Iranian government's response.
Obama cited Martin Luther King's statement that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
"I believe that," the president said. "The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people's belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."
Police clashed with protesters around Tehran immediately after the presidential election and gunfire from a militia compound left at least seven dead, but further force remained in check until Saturday's developments.
source: AP