Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Beirut - Iran's hard-line president Friday demanded the prosecution of top opposition leaders, raising the political temperature anew just a day and a half after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sought to cool tensions in a conciliatory speech.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' atomic monitoring agency delivered a quarterly assessment of Iran's controversial nuclear program, reporting that the Islamic Republic had granted inspectors access to sensitive research sites but has continued to stonewall efforts to examine past nuclear research that is alleged to be weapons-related.
During a pre-sermon speech at weekly prayers in Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not name his reformist rivals, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and former parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, but left little doubt that he was speaking about them in calling for the punishment of the "masterminds" of weeks of public unrest that followed the disputed June 12 election.
"The most important task for the judiciary and security bodies is to deal seriously with the leaders and masterminds" of the unrest, he said, undermining the conciliatory tone set by Khamenei this week. "All of those who organized and instigated [the riots] and followed the enemy line have to be seriously confronted. The masterminds of the riots should by no means enjoy any immunity." (Read more...)
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