Iran's supreme leader warns of 'collapse' of elite

IRAN’S SUPREME leader, Ali Khamenei, warned yesterday that continuing divisions would lead to the collapse of the country’s ruling…

IRAN’S SUPREME leader, Ali Khamenei, warned yesterday that continuing divisions would lead to the collapse of the country’s ruling elite, after a former president called for a referendum on the government’s legitimacy.

The referendum call from Mohammad Khatami appeared to be part of an opposition strategy to keep Ayatollah Khamenei and allied hardliners on the defensive over last month’s disputed elections. It coincided with a demand from Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate in those elections, for the release of opposition supporters detained for protesting against the official results, which gave a landslide victory to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Another former president, Hashemi Rafsanjani, gave a speech at Friday prayers in which he said the Islamic republic was in crisis and the government had lost the trust of millions of Iranians.

Ayatollah Khamenei hit back furiously. “The elite should be watchful, since they have been faced with a big test. Failing the test will cause their collapse,” he said in a speech to mark a religious holiday attended by government officials including Mr Ahmadinejad, who sat on the stage behind him.

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Mr Khatami’s call for a referendum represented a new tactic by the opposition in its efforts to maintain the momentum of a protest movement harshly suppressed on the streets by pro-government militias. “I state openly that reliance upon the people’s vote and the staging of a legal referendum is the only way for the system to emerge from the current crisis,” said Mr Khatami, a reformist cleric who was president from 1997 to 2005.

“People must be asked whether they are happy with the situation that has taken shape.”

In remarks quoted on reformist Iranian websites, he suggested a referendum be overseen by an “impartial” body, such as the expediency discernment council, which is chaired by Mr Rafsanjani and is supposed to mediate disputes between clerical and lay organs of state.

Mr Khatami’s political organisation, the Association of Combatant Clerics, issued a statement on its website saying a referendum should not be overseen by “bodies and centres that manipulated” the June 12th vote, a reference to the guardian council, a body that oversees elections and endorsed the official election result.

It is highly unlikely that either the ayatollah or the guardian council would agree to such a referendum.

Mr Mousavi raised his own rallying cry to supporters at a meeting with the families of post-election detainees. “You are facing something new: an awakened nation, a nation that has been born again and is here to defend its achievements,” the former prime minister said.

Mr Mousavi was also critical of the linking of those detained with plots by foreign countries. “Who believes these people, many of them prominent figures, would work with the foreigners and to endanger their country’s interests?” he asked, adding that they “should be immediately released”. – (Guardian service; additional reporting Reuters)