The White House performed an embarrassing retreat tonight, withdrawing its description of President Ahmadinejad as Iran’s “elected leader” on the day that he was sworn in for his second term.
“Let me correct a little bit what I said yesterday,” Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s spokesman, said as thousands of Iranian riot police beat back protesters outside the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. “Whether any election was fair...we’ll let (the Iranian people) decide about that.”
Hillary Clinton made further amends for an error that reflected the West’s dilemma as it seeks to engage with Iran’s new government over its nuclear programme. The US Secretary of State expressed admiration for the opposition’s “continuing resistance” to what was widely regarded as a fraudulent election and the brutal crackdown that followed.
Although Mr Ahmadinejad claims to have been swept back into office with a resounding 63 per cent of the vote, today’s ceremony was hardly a joyful occasion.
State-sponsored Press TV said 5,000 police and basiji militiamen had to ring the Majlis (parliament) to protect it from irate citizens. Some dignitaries were flown in by helicopter. Opposition leaders and around 50 moderate MPs boycotted the event. Ambassadors from Britain and some other Western countries attended, but their governments pointedly withheld their customary letters of congratulation.
Mr Ahmadinejad called the June 12 vote an “unprecedented epic”, but his speech was, by his own bellicose standards, relatively subdued. The ceremony itself was “lacklustre, sombre, perfunctory,” said one of those present. “It was almost like they just wanted to get it out of the way.”
The opposition had called for massive protests outside the building, but the security forces moved into Baharestan Square before dawn, and in such huge numbers that the demonstrators stood little chance.
Police and militiamen shut shops, closed subway stations and cut off mobile phones. They moved instantly to stop groups from forming, using batons and tear gas. “Their presence was really massive. There was every colour of uniform you could imagine - some I’d never seen before,” said one witness. “You could walk around but if you stopped you got hit.”
Last night the entire city centre was flooded with security forces to prevent further demonstrations.
Inside the parliament around 50 of the 290 MPs’ seats were empty as Mr Ahmadinejad pledged, as part of the oath of office, not to be autocratic.
Also conspicuous by their absence were the defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karoubi and Mohsen Rezaie, the former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and any relative of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
Simon Gass, the British ambassador, and other European envoys watched from the gallery as Mr Ahmadinejad promised to continue his fight against “oppressive powers” during his second term, and mocked their refusal to congratulate him.
“You should know that nobody in Iran is awaiting your congratulations. Iranians value neither your scowling and bullying, not your smiles and greetings,” he declared to applause. He accused the West of championing democracy only when it produced the result it wanted.
The President called for national unity, but warned that his government would not tolerate “disrespect, interference or insults”.
Hours before he spoke the regime arrested two more prominent opposition figures - a newspaper editor and Mr Mousavi’s former website director - as part of its continuing battle to crush dissent.
Source:The times
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