Policy Research Group   - Strategic Insight: Iran vote valid, says Khamenei 

Iran vote valid, says Khamenei
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editor on 20 June, 2009 03:31:00
 
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has firmly ruled that the June 12
vote in the presidential election  is valid. And  warned the opposition leaders
that they 'would be responsible for bloodshed and chaos' if the protest rallies
continued.
Addressing the Friday Prayers in Tehran, the Ayatollah asked rather
rhetorically, ' How can 11 million votes be changed'. The opposition has been
accusing that the vote in the four cornened contest was rigged.
Iran's Spiritualleader praised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his landslide victory and
described the vote as an 'epic moment that became a historic moment'.
'The Islamic state would not cheat and would not betray the vote of the people',
Khamenei was quoted as  telling vcheering crowds in his 100-minute long sermon
broadcast over loudspeakers.
President Ahmadinejad and Parliament's Speaker  Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel attended
the prayer meeting held at the Tehran University.
There was no immediate response from Opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi,
whose supporters have hit the streets for the past week.