Iran Focus: Tehran, Jun. 15
Supreme Leader: Voting a ‘religious duty’
When hardliners complain of being demonised!
Bombings will increase voter turnout: Judiciary chief
Khatami warns of organised moves to manipulate elections
Larijani campaign office in southern Iran burnt down
Candidate says bombings could have official approval
Sound bombs explode in Zahedan
Revolutionary Guards call for high turnout to deal “fatal blow to enemies”
U.S. is secretly thanking us: Rafsanjani Iran Focus
Tehran, Jun. 15
Supreme Leader: Voting a ‘religious duty’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today announced on state television that voting in the upcoming June 17 presidential elections was a “religious duty”.
The enemy has been trying for months to make this election one that lacks any vitality, but contrary to the enemys expectations, its polls also show that a majority of people will take part in the election, Khamenei said.
Analysts noted that Khamenei usually gives an accurate impression of the final vote count prior to elections and his mention of a majority means that the official tally will be fixed to stand about 50 percent.
When hardliners complain of being demonised!
A source inside the campaign team of hard-line candidate Ali Larijani said that they planned to present the names and office information of rival presidential candidates to the judiciary because of a “widespread demonisation campaign” against the former head of state television and radio. He accused rival candidates of advertising to the general electorate that Larijani had withdrawn from the race via internet news outlets, telephone, and fax.
Bombings will increase voter turnout: Judiciary chief
The head of Iran’s judiciary said today in a meeting with Australia’s new ambassador in Tehran that bomb attacks by “the enemy” will increase voter turnout, according to the state-run news agency.
“The hopeless acts by the enemy such as bombings will not affect the people; on the contrary, they will increase unity and lead to a higher turnout”.
Khatami warns of organised moves to manipulate elections
Irans President Mohammad Khatami warned today that there were organised moves afoot to affect the results of Fridays presidential elections.
Organised moves are under way to damage a healthy election process, he wrote in a decree to the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
Larijani campaign office in southern Iran burnt down
One of the campaign offices of Ali Larijani was today looted and burnt down in the southwestern port city of Khorramshahr on the Iraqi border, according to an official of the Larijani camp.
Candidate says bombings could have official approval
Mostafa Moin said in an interview with the London-based Guardian newspaper today that the recent spate of bombings in Iran could have been carried out with official approval. He said he would withdraw from the race if the officially-sanctioned violence continued.
Sound bombs explode in Zahedan
Four sound-bombs exploded today in the southeastern city of Zahedan at 8 pm Tehran time. The bombs went off at Martyrs Square, but there were no words of damages or casualties. Two other bombs went off in the city on Monday, and another bomb exploded there yesterday, though it no group has taken responsibility with only two days to go the presidential elections.
Revolutionary Guards call for high turnout to deal “fatal blow to enemies”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in a statement called on the Iranian people to take part in Friday’s presidential elections to strike a “fatal blow” into the heart of the White House and Iran’s opposition forces.
U.S. is secretly thanking us: Rafsanjani
Frontrunner Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani told journalists today that the United States was secretly sending thank-you messages to Iran for its logical behaviour, even though American officials publicly accuse Tehran of meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan, the state-run Fars news agency reported.
Our objective was to topple the regimes of the Baathists in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan by the people of these countries, and the Americans gave some help, Rafsanjani said.
