TEHRAN - The presidential election results announced by the Interior Ministry must be confirmed by the Guardian Council, GC spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaii said on Tuesday. And the Guardian Council will declare the final results within the legal time period of 7 to 10 days, he added. In response to protests by the defeated candidates, the GC has agreed to recount certain ballot boxes, he explained. Representatives of three presidential candidates -- Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi, and Mohsen Rezaii -- held discussions with Guardian Council experts on the election results on Tuesday. Mousavi, who finished in second in the presidential election, and Karroubi, who finished in last place in the four-way race, ave made allegations of election fraud.
In defiance of the ban on foreign reporters, The Independent's Middle East correspondent ventures out to witness an extraordinary stand-off on the streets of TehranThe fate of Iran rested last night in a grubby north Tehran highway interchange called Vanak Square where - after days of violence - supporters of the official President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at last confronted the screaming, angry Iranians who have decided that Mirhossein Mousavi should be the president of their country. Unbelievably - and I am a witness because I stood beside them - just 400 Iranian special forces police were keeping these two armies apart. There were stones and tear gas but for the first time in this epic crisis the cops promised to protect both sides. "Please, please, keep the Basiji from us," one middle-aged lady pleaded with a special forces officer in flak jacket and helmet as the Islamic Republic's thug-like militia appeared in their camouflage trousers and purity-white shirts only a few metres away. The cop smiled at her. "With God's help," he said. Two other policemen were lifted shoulder-high. "Tashakor, tashakor," - "thank you, thank you" - the crowd roared at them. This was phenomenal. The armed special forces of the Islamic Republic, hitherto always allies of the Basiji, were prepared for once, it seemed, to protect all Iranians, not just Ahmadinejad's henchmen. The precedent for this sudden neutrality is known to everyone - it was when the Shah's army refused to fire on the millions of demonstrators demanding his overthrow in 1979.
The fate of Iran rested last night in a grubby north Tehran highway interchange called Vanak Square where - after days of violence - supporters of the official President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at last confronted the screaming, angry Iranians who have decided that Mirhossein Mousavi should be the president of their country. Unbelievably - and I am a witness because I stood beside them - just 400 Iranian special forces police were keeping these two armies apart. There were stones and tear gas but for the first time in this epic crisis the cops promised to protect both sides.
"Please, please, keep the Basiji from us," one middle-aged lady pleaded with a special forces officer in flak jacket and helmet as the Islamic Republic's thug-like militia appeared in their camouflage trousers and purity-white shirts only a few metres away. The cop smiled at her. "With God's help," he said. Two other policemen were lifted shoulder-high. "Tashakor, tashakor," - "thank you, thank you" - the crowd roared at them.
This was phenomenal. The armed special forces of the Islamic Republic, hitherto always allies of the Basiji, were prepared for once, it seemed, to protect all Iranians, not just Ahmadinejad's henchmen. The precedent for this sudden neutrality is known to everyone - it was when the Shah's army refused to fire on the millions of demonstrators demanding his overthrow in 1979.
Do reform forces in Iran really stand a chance of new elections, and can the West help in any way? Mehran Barati, a prominent member of the Iranian opposition in exile, talks to SPIEGEL ONLINE about the allegations of election fraud, the protests in Tehran and Europe's problematic strategy for dealing with the regime. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Barati, 19 million votes for Mir Hossein Mousavi, 13 million votes for Mehdi Karroubi: Those are figures you cite as a member of the Iranian opposition to claim that the reform camp clearly defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Where are you getting those figures from? A demonstrator shows a picture of Mir Hossein Mousavi during a rally in support of the former presidential candidate in Tehran on Monday. Barati: They come from religious people inside the Interior Ministry who also believe in the truth. And they were also passed on in the same way to Mousavi after the election. I also know that he told Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who is known in the West and has direct contact with Mousavi, on the night of the election that he wouldn't immediately go public with his election victory. Shortly afterwards, 20 thugs occupied his office, and a short time later it was totally surrounded. Eventually, the Interior Ministry declared Ahmadinejad the election victor. Apparently after the votes were counted, the Revolutionary Guard and spiritual leader Ali Khamenei intervened.
Do reform forces in Iran really stand a chance of new elections, and can the West help in any way? Mehran Barati, a prominent member of the Iranian opposition in exile, talks to SPIEGEL ONLINE about the allegations of election fraud, the protests in Tehran and Europe's problematic strategy for dealing with the regime.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Barati, 19 million votes for Mir Hossein Mousavi, 13 million votes for Mehdi Karroubi: Those are figures you cite as a member of the Iranian opposition to claim that the reform camp clearly defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Where are you getting those figures from?
A demonstrator shows a picture of Mir Hossein Mousavi during a rally in support of the former presidential candidate in Tehran on Monday.
Barati: They come from religious people inside the Interior Ministry who also believe in the truth. And they were also passed on in the same way to Mousavi after the election. I also know that he told Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who is known in the West and has direct contact with Mousavi, on the night of the election that he wouldn't immediately go public with his election victory. Shortly afterwards, 20 thugs occupied his office, and a short time later it was totally surrounded. Eventually, the Interior Ministry declared Ahmadinejad the election victor. Apparently after the votes were counted, the Revolutionary Guard and spiritual leader Ali Khamenei intervened.
