US President George W Bush today challenged the legitimacy of Iran's presidential election on the eve of the vote, accusing the country's leaders of extending their "oppressive record" by blocking reformists from running and jailing dissenters.
"Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy," Mr Bush said in a statement issued by the White House. "The June 17th presidential elections are sadly consistent with this oppressive record."
The statement amounted to a pre-emptive US challenge to the legitimacy of Friday's vote and appeared designed to encourage internal dissent and increase international pressure.
While Mr Bush said: "America believes in the right of the Iranian people to make their own decisions and determine their own future," he added: "To the Iranian people, I say: 'As you stand for your own liberty, the people of America stand with you."
A senior administration official denied that Bush was trying to influence the election outcome or turnout. "The Iranian people are not fooled by this so-called election, nor are we, and we're calling it for what it is," the official said.
Mr Bush's goal was to cast Iran as the region's biggest democratic holdout, "ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world."
Citing elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, the US President said, "As a tide of freedom sweeps this region, it will also come eventually to Iran."
Washington accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear arms under the guise of civilian energy, a charge Iran denies.
Though Mr Bush has not ruled out taking military action, he has stressed the need for more diplomacy and said that "America believes in the independence and territorial integrity of Iran."
Mr Bush steered clear of the nuclear dispute in his statement, but a senior US official said Iran continues to mislead the United Nations nuclear watchdog about its past and present nuclear activities.
Mr Bush accused Tehran of denying more than 1,000 people the right to run as candidates. These included "popular reformers and women who have done so much for the cause of freedom and democracy in Iran."
"The Iranian people deserve a genuinely democratic system in which elections are honest - and in which their leaders answer to them instead of the other way around."
He called for greater press and religious freedom, an independent judiciary, and for the government to let opposition groups express their views.
"Today, the Iranian regime denies all these rights," Mr Bush said, accusing Tehran of shutting down independent newspapers and websites, and of jailing those "who dare to challenge the corrupt system."
"It brutalizes its people and denies them their liberty."