Region | Iran
Protests will be crushed, Guards say
Guardian council admits to election discrepancies saying that number of votes in 50 cities more than the number of voters.
- Agencues
- Published: 23:04 June 22, 2009
- Iranian police use force to break up protest
- Mainstream media become part of sad story
- Obama opts for cautious approach to upheaval
- Arabs worry tensions will spill over
- Iran launches 3-day fighter jets drill over Arabian Gulf: report
- Death toll from clashes in Iran hits 20
- Iraqis admit joy and fear at US pullout
- US warns Iran to end violence
- Iran warns opposition against rally
- Iranian protesters embrace Twitter
Tehran: In its harshest warning yet, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said on Monday they would crush riots with "revolutionary" methods, signalling a harsh crackdown on any further unrest over the disputed presidential election.
"At the current sensitive situation ... the Guards will firmly confront in a revolutionary way rioters and those who violate the law," said a statement, published by the Guards' website.
The statement came after the Iran's electoral watchdog the Guardian Council announced discrepancies in the election admitting to up to 3 million questionable votes.
The Guardian Council admitted that the number of votes collected in 50 cities was more than the number of eligible voters, but has yet to be determined whether the amount is decisive in the election results."
Reformist candidate Mir Hussain Mousavi called on his supporters to continue demonstrations, as Iranians protested on Sunday in Los Angeles and in front of the White House.
"Protesting against lies and fraud (in the election) is your right," Mousavi said in a statement on his website.
Related Links
"In your protests, continue to show restraint. I am expecting armed forces to avoid irreversible damage," he added. About 457 people were arrested during protests during the weekend, according to state media.
Opposition supporters have been shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Great) from their rooftops, in a symbolic protest inspired by the revolution that cannot be stopped by security forces.
In Tehran, Iranian MPs urged a review of ties with Britain over alleged election meddling as students planned a protest at the British embassy and warned of a repeat of the 1979 US embassy siege.
Centuries-old mistrust of British interest in Iran welled up once more as Iranian leaders alleged that London played a key role in fomenting the unrest that has swept the Islamic republic since the June 12 presidential election.
As the accusations mounted, Britain's Foreign Office said it is withdrawing the families of embassy staff and warned its nationals against "all but essential travel to Iran."
Kazem Jalali, spokesman for parliament's foreign relations commission, told state-run television: "We asked the foreign ministry to reduce relations with Britain in our session with the foreign minister and his deputies."
Members of four Iranian student unions will stage a protest demonstration outside the British embassy in Tehran on Tuesday, the Fars news agency reported.
It said the protest would target the "perverted government of Britain for its intervention in Iran's internal affairs, its role in the unrest in Tehran and its support of the riots."
The report quoted Esmail Tahmouressi, a student leader, warning that Tuesday could be another "November 4", the date when Islamist students captured the US embassy in Tehran after the 1979 revolution.
On Monday, riot police attacked hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally in central Tehran.
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
