The Council of Guardians in Iran declared that there was no fraud in the recent presidential election which was held on June12, calling it 'the most truthful' in the history of the Islamic Republic. Abbas Kdkhaddaiy, spokesman for the Council, confirmed that there is no rigging in the elections, where Ahmadinejad won a second term, and stressed "the Board concluded the review of complaints of the defeated candidates, and that the audit which took place in the last 10 days has demonstrated that apart from the micro-irregularities inherent in any electoral process, there were no major irregularities."
Following the declaration, Ahmad Khatami, Iran's hard-line cleric, urged the judicial authority to punish 'rioters' who were most prominent in the violent acts that followed presidential elections "without any mercy and voracity." In a sermon he delivered at the University of Tehran he said: "I want the judiciary to punish prominent mob riots with a firm hand so as to teach everyone a lesson." In a new escalation that threatens to undermine attempts of union between America and Iran, the White House refused the accusations made by Ahmadinejad against U.S. President Barack Obama of interfering in the affairs of his country adding that Iran is seeking to place the United States in the heart of the political crisis that followed the presidential election. Robert Gibbs, White House spokesman, said Obama noted that former Iranian leaders had attributed to the United States a role in the political crisis faced by Tehran and added: "I will add President Ahmadinejad to that list." In the meantime, the group calling themselves the 'Eight' condemned in its closing statement yesterday violence in Iran following the sharp differences that occurred as a result of the Italian pressure to issue a strong statement of condemnation, against a warning from Russia of not making the "mistake of isolating Iran."
