August 28th, 2009 by Blake

Today, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the arrest of opposition leaders, mentioning that those charged in the recent mass trials should not be the only ones punished. Although many hard-liners have made similar gestures, this the the first time Ahmadinejad has demanded arrests. The New York Times reports that the president’s approach is tougher than that of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is more hesitant to crack down too hard on the opposition movement. This week he said that there is no evidence that opposition leaders were backed by foreign elements.

Meanwhile, in a rare public attack against Khamenei, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said that the supreme leader heads a “dictatorship” wherein “the biggest oppression…is despotic treatment of the people in the name of Islam.” His remarks carry weight in the establishment, as Montazeri was at one point considered for the position of supreme leader.

Posted in Elections, Iran, Reform |