Iran's leadership ceremony sparks clashes in streets

Los Angeles Times

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A confirmation ceremony Monday meant to showcase the unity of the Islamic Republic of Iran's leadership instead highlighted its divisions, sparking clashes in the streets between demonstrators and security forces that stretched into the night.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term seven weeks after a disputed re-election that continues to roil the nation.

Dozens of officials, dignitaries and clergy did not attend the ceremony, including Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, considered one of the most powerful people in the country.

It was not immediately clear whether the absentees boycotted the event or were not invited. The ceremony was the religious portion of Ahmadinejad's swearing-in. He will take the oath of office again on Wednesday before the Iranian parliament.

Hours later, fighting erupted in several Tehran districts between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi chanting, "Death to the dictator."

Drivers stopped their cars in the middle of highways and in central squares, leaning on their horns in gestures of protest.

As the clock struck 10 p.m., residents climbed to their rooftops or stuck their heads out of windows and roared, "God is great!" in what has become a nightly expression of opposition to Ahmadinejad's controversial election.

Khamenei, in a speech largely praising Ahmadinejad, acknowledged the divisions but pointedly warned both a burgeoning protest movement and the politicians that have rallied around it that their efforts were futile and had grave consequences.

"The enemies must know that the protests, which are caricature of the prerevolutionary ones, cannot undermine the system," he said. Some opposition supporters saw his words as a veiled sign that the authorities may be willing to go further in their efforts to intimidate and silence the protesters.

On Monday, the semiofficial Fars news service, which has links to Iran's security services, printed an item on its Web site saying that Mehdi Karroubi, the other main presidential candidate besides Mousavi, had employed on his campaign team members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, a militant group that seeks the overthrow of the Iranian government.

The far-right Partosokhan site ran an article Monday under the headline "Moussavi, Karroubi, Rafsanjani and his children, should all stand trial."

Iran's political system combines elements of a democratic republic with religious rule. Regular elections are held for president and parliament, but Khamenei has the final decision on all matters of state.

In recent years, however, Ahmadinejad and allied hard-liners in the Revolutionary Guard and security forces have begun to nudge out the clergy who dominated political life in the first two decades after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran watchers noted differences between Monday's confirmation ceremony and the one at the beginning of Ahmadinejad's first term.

At the start of his first term, Khamenei affectionately embraced the president and allowed him to kiss his hand.

This time, they encountered each other awkwardly, with Ahmadinejad eventually leaning forward and kissing the supreme leader on the shoulder.