Iran’s Supreme leader today warned Iranians not to play into the hands of the country’s enemies. This after other senior leaders spoke out against the outcome of last month’s disputed presidential election. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Ramin Mostaghim, special correspondent for the Los Angeles Times in Tehran.
Listen

Iran protests

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: The supreme leader of Iran today warned Iranians not to play into the hands of the country’s enemies. The message from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen as a direct response to speeches by two former Iranian presidents.  Both of those speeches criticized last month’s presidential election. The vote’s outcome was disputed by opposition supporters in Iran. Ramin Mostaghim is a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. He’s now in Tehran. The opposition is calling for a referendum.  What would that referendum be about?  What would they be voting on?

RAMIN MOSTAGHIM: The referendum will be about the election result.  Because they cannot make a decision who is the actual winner.  They suppose if they put the referendum in they can make that choice clear.

MULLINS: How significant is the call for a referendum coming from the former President  Mohammad Khatami?

MOSTAGHIM: It is very important because it is the first time Khatami has associated with the opposition camp.  Because calling for referendum means your challenging the supreme leader.

MULLINS: Well on the other side, the supreme leader is basically responding with a threat.  What is he saying?

MOSTAGHIM: Yeah, because he thinks that the whole voting establishment is [INDSICERNIBLE] by this protest, and he believes that his enemies are involved in that and the country.  Unfortunately they do not see in each other in eyes.  So, he condemns the enemies.  They condemn the fraud and rigging inside the country.

MULLINS: But if the opposition leader, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, were to come to office.  This is the man who was said to loss according to the official results anyway, loss the election to the incumbent Ahmadinejad.  If Mousavi were to come to office, if he were to be president, would anything be different in Iran?

MOSTAGHIM: No.  That is the irony of history.  In fact, I think Mousavi as President would be more of a failure because his platform was a flop from the very beginning.  He was lucky enough to be elected because he couldn’t deliver anything.  [INDISCERNIBLE] People are protesting for many other reasons and that wave may change something.  That what is the difference in what the leaders say and what the people say in this.

MULLINS: Okay, thank you very much Ramin Mostaghim, special correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, speaking to us from Tehran, the capital of Iran.  Ramin, thank you.

MOSTAGHIM: My pleasure.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.