Iran leader Khamenei's address to nation
TEHRAN- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday as the rightful winner of Iran's presidential election and called for an end to the biggest street protests in Iranian history.
Here are some highlights from Khamenei's address.
I am urging them to end street protests, otherwise they will be responsible for its consequences, and consequences of any chaos.
The result of the election comes out of the ballot box, not from the street.
If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible.
Differences of opinion do exist between officials which is natural. But it does not mean there is a rift in the system.
Ever since the last presidential election there existed differences of opinion between (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and (former president Akbar Hashemi) Rafsanjani.
Of course my outlook is closer to that of Ahmadinejad in domestic and foreign policy.
The enemies (of Iran) are targeting the Islamic establishment's legitimacy by questioning the election and its authenticity before and after (the vote).
After street protests, some foreign powers ... started to interfere in Iran's state matters by questioning the result of the vote. They do not know the Iranian nation. I strongly condemn such interference.
American officials remarks about human rights and limitations on people are not acceptable because they have no idea about human rights after what they have done in Afghanistan and Iran and other parts of the world. We do not need advice over human rights from them.
It's a wrong impression that by using street protests as a pressure tool, they can compel officials to accept their illegal demands. This would be the start of a dictatorship.
Iran's laws do not allow vote-rigging ... With these laws, how could it be possible to have such vote-rigging. (Reporting by Fredrik Dahl, Parisa Hafezi, Dominic Evans and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran; Editing by Richard Williams)
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