Khamenei blames mass protests on ‘Zionist media’

By ICEJ News

19 Jun 2009

Blaming the open mass defiance against his hard-line clerical regime on “Zionist media,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday appealed for calm to return to the streets of Tehran, which have been jammed with daily street rallies protesting the theft of the presidential election one week ago. "Today the Iranian nation needs calm," Khamenei said in his first address to the nation since the protests broke out. The supreme leader insisted there was a "definitive victory" by incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and that no vote rigging occurred in the disputed balloting that has set off days of unprecedented unrest. Khamenei offered no concessions to supporters of rival candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who are demanding the elections be canceled and held over. Khamenei praised the Iranian people for the high voter turnout in last week's presidential elections, while blaming Israel and Great Britain, among others, for the ensuing unrest. "There are media outlets, some of which are affiliated to the Zionists, that are trying to give the impression that that there is a struggle between those who support the regime and those who oppose it. This is not true. They have no right to say this," Khamenei said. In particular, he blamed "Zionist radio," a reference to Israel's official Persian language station, for "planting doubts" about the election in the minds of Iranians. When Khamenei said the United Kingdom's government was the "most treacherous," the crowd responded with chants of "Death to the UK, Israel and America." Khamenei was making his address as part of Friday prayers at Tehran University.

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