The Iranian president today warned the country's opposition against straying from the path of the founder of the Islamic Revolution and slammed Israel for a deadly raid this week on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke before hundreds of thousands
gathered at the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the
surrounding grounds in southern Tehran for a ceremony marking
his death 21 years ago. The Khomeini-led Islamic revolution
toppled the US-backed shah and brought hard-line Islamists to
power in 1979.
"Those who deviate from the Imam's path will be banished
by the people," Ahmadinejad said.
The stark warning came just days ahead of the opposition's mass rally planned on the anniversary of last June's disputed presidential election. The rally is to be the first opposition gathering in months and authorities have warned they will confront any unauthorized demonstrations.
The Iranian opposition claims Ahmadinejad won the June 12
election through massive vote fraud. It had rallied for months
against the election results but was met by a heavy government
crackdown, which the opposition says killed 80 people during
street protests so far.
More than 100 opposition figures and activists were put on a mass trial, and 80 of them were sentenced to death or given prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.
But Ahmadinejad reiterated today that the election was "100% free" and added he is "bound by duty to protect the people's vote."
The annual commemoration of Khomeini's death is part mournful ceremony, part political rally for the base that sustains Iran's hard-liners amid rising dissatisfaction with inflation, unemployment, social constraints -- and an opposition movement that has persisted despite the crackdown.
Ahmadinejad, known for his anti-Israeli rhetoric, used the podium at the shrine grounds today to blast Israel's commando raid on the international flotilla off Gaza's shores, calling it "barbaric" and urging the dismantling of the "Zionist regime."
"They have lost their self-control and ability to think," he said of the Israeli raid that killed nine activists on the Turkish flagship in the flotilla Monday.
"Thousands such freedom flotillas across the world will sail out with freedom fighters, to scrap the Zionist rule and bring peace and freedom to all mankind," added Ahmadinejad.
