Khamenei speech raises fresh fears of backlash

Dubai: A fresh warning by Iran's supreme leader to reformists, accusing them of breaking the law by insulting the late leader of the Islamic Republic, sent ripples of fear in the opposition camp amid fears for the political and social stability of the country.

In a speech broadcast by state television, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the opposition had encouraged Iran's enemies to undermine the Islamic system.

Political activists and analysts from Iran warned of uncontrollable unrest in Tehran and other major cities in the country if the government went ahead with what seems is a premeditated plan to smash the reformist movement.

In their rallies over the past two days, loyalists and clerics supporting the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have called on the government to arrest leading reformist figures including the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hussain Mousavi for burning pictures of religious leaders including Ali Khamenei and the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

Mohammad Shams Al Wa'ezeen, consultant and political analyst at the Arab Middle East Research and Study Centre in Tehran, said there was no doubt that the recent escalation in the war of words between the two camps is quite dangerous for the stability of Iran.

"Up till now, both parties [conservatives and the reformists] have shown strong commitment against crossing a threshold that might mix things up in the country and cause uncontrolled unrest.

"A footage of a length of less than a minute on Twitter depicting a disguised person deliberately burning the pictures of the top two religious leaders has escalated the tension to an unprecedented levels. Regardless of the perpetrator and the side that he is representing, using the incident to justify tougher actions against reformists is quite dangerous on the stability of the nation as a whole," he warned. "There was no need to bring the religious element to the confrontation anyway and there should be wise people in the hardliner camp to say that there was no enough evidence to blame reformists for it.

Anisa Ali, a reformist and supporter of Mousavi said reformists would not allow the government to smash their movement because of a video whose source could not be established beyond reasonable doubt. "It could have been plotted by the Basij or any other government agency. We kept emphasizing over on our deep respect to the late Ayatollah Khomeini and no one on earth has the right to question reformists' core beliefs."