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Will not yield to pressure: Khamenei

DUBAI: Iran’s establishment has reinforced its decision not to hold fresh presidential elections after one of the contestants opposed to the poll results formally withdrew his complaints.

“I had insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told lawmakers on Wednesday. “Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost.”

On Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei had ruled out a re-poll and had warned the opposition to cease its protests. Official results had declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winner by a wide margin, causing opposition leader Mir Hosain Mousavi, who cited fraud, to demand the annulment of the poll.

Presidential contender Mohsen Rezai withdrew his complaints from the supervisory Guardian Council citing security considerations. “The [current] political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase, which is more important than the election,” Mr. Rezai was quoted as saying in a letter to the Secretary of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.

Analysts see this as a setback for the opposition. Mr. Rezai is a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, whose unity would be crucial in the regime’s on-going confrontation with the opposition.

The government further escalated its attempts to project the protests as the result of foreign instigation. Agency reports said that State television had been showing people, apparently protestors, admitting that foreign media had influenced them. One young man said: “I think we were provoked by networks like the BBC and the Voice of America to take such immoral actions.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki hinted that Iran might downgrade its ties with Britain for its alleged role in the protests. Asked after a Cabinet meeting on whether Iran was scaling down its ties with Britain, Mr. Mottaki said: “We are studying it.”

He also said Iran would not participate in a G8 meeting in Italy with regional heavyweights to discuss ways to stabilise Afghanistan.

Faced with the heavy crackdown, the opposition is lying low, apparently engaged in considering ways to launch a second round of confrontation. Some opposition supporters in Tehran’s streets were reportedly circulating a five-page flier asking people to protest outside Parliament at 4 p.m.

It also invited people with families to gather on Thursday at the shrine of the revolutions founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Mr. Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, also demanded the release of Iranians who were arrested because they protested. In a message posted on Mr. Mousavi’s website, Ms. Rahnavard said: “I regret the arrest of many politicians and people and want their immediate release.”

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