23.06.09

Contact: Diana Gregor  +44 (0)20 3239 7342   diana.gregor@realite-eu.org

World Leaders React to Iranian Elections and Charges of Interference

Western governments critical yet restrained

Western governments rejected charges they were interfering in Iranian affairs while insisting Iran must allow peaceful protests against its dubious presidential election.

A majority of western countries have criticized the election, which was won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad according to official figures, and its violent aftermath. His main opponent Mirhossein Mousavi says the vote was rigged. The government denies the charge. [1]

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has attacked what he called interference by foreign powers who had questioned the election result, saying “mercenaries of western and Zionist spy services” were trying to undermine the legitimacy of Iran’s Islamic establishment. [2] [3]

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged an immediate end to the arrests, threats and use of force against civilians and called on the authorities to respect fundamental civil and political rights, especially the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of information. [4]

Also, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned what he said was Tehran's totally unacceptable use of "brute force and intimidation in responding to peaceful opposition regarding legitimate and serious allegations of electoral fraud" and called on the Iranian authorities to immediately cease the use of violence against their own people, to release all political prisoners and journalists and to conduct a full and transparent investigation into allegations of fraud in the presidential election. [5]

U.S. President Barack Obama has increasingly sharpened his tone since the poutbreak of violence saying he was “appalled and outraged” by the beatings and arrests of demonstrators and said that accusations the US and the UK was instigating huge protests against Mr Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, “patently false and absurd. This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won’t work any more in Iran. This is not about the United States and the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they and only they will choose,” he said. [6]

The European Union said that Iran summoned diplomats from EU member countries to protest what it says is interference in its internal affairs. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, says Iran's action was a misunderstanding, because the 27-nation EU's goal is not to interfere in Iran's affairs. [7]

Foreign countries have played no part in supporting the violent street protests that erupted in Iran after its June 12 election, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said. "I reject categorically the idea that the protesters in Iran are manipulated or motivated by foreign countries," Miliband said in a statement . [8]

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has been among the most vocal international critics of the Iranian leadership's handling of the weeklong protests, calling it "brutal and totally disproportionate." [9]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the first leader of a major Western power to publicly call for a recount, urging Iran to refrain from using violence against demonstrators, free detained opposition members and allow free media reporting of the protests. "Germany is on the side of the Iranian people, who want to exercise their rights of freedom of expression and free assembly," she said in a statement. "One could eliminate doubt, very well I believe, by simply repeating the count transparently and if needed also with international observers. And then trust could grow," she told reporters. [10]

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he planned to discuss a European Union-wide proposal to coordinate assistance by foreign embassies in Tehran for wounded demonstrators during a meeting Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden, which takes over the EU presidency next week. Separately, Italy urged Iran to take urgent but peaceful measures to end the violence and hold an open meeting with the country's opposition. [11]

Russia said it backs the results of Iran's presidential elections and views all issues linked to it as the Islamic Republic's internal affair. All disputes must be settled in conformity with the Islamic Republic's constitution and laws, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. [12]

IAEA and Israel remain focused on nuclear program

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said: "The ultimate aim of Iran, as I understand it, is they want to be recognized as a major power in the Middle East. Increasing their nuclear capability is, to them, the road to get that recognition, to get that power and prestige. It is also an insurance policy against what they have heard in the past about regime change." [13]

Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu reminded the international community that Iran has repeatedly denied the holocaust, and threatened to wipe Israel off the map and is pursuing nuclear weapons. "To have such a regime acquire nuclear weapons is to risk the fact that they might give it to terrorists or give terrorists a nuclear umbrella," he said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press. [14]

Arab governments' response is muted

Gulf Arab governments gave a more muted reaction to Ahmadinejad's election win this week. Semi-official media in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy with no elected parliament, attacked the results as undemocratic. [15] Many Arab governments, including the Palestinian Authority, are quietly hoping that the latest crisis in Iran will mark the beginning of the end of the radical regime of the ayatollahs and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Frustrated with Teheran's long-standing policy of meddling in their internal affairs, representatives of the relatively moderate, pro-Western governments in Ramallah, Cairo, Beirut, Riyadh and other Arab capitals are hoping that regime change in Iran would undermine radical Islamic groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah. A number of Palestinian officials in Ramallah said they expected the collapse of the regime in Iran to have a "positive" impact on what's happening in the PA-controlled territories. [16]

References:

[1] “West urges Iran to allow protests, recount votes," Reuters, Jun 21, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55J1QP20090621

[2] “Iran Supreme Leader’s speech on presidential elections dispute,” ISNA, Jun 19, 2009 http://www.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1358512&Lang=E

[3] "Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Friday Sermon – Summary of Main Points", MEMRI, Jun 19, 2009 http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP241209

[4] "U.N.'s Ban urges halt to use of force in Iran ," Reuters, Jun 22, 2009 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090622/tpl-uk-iran-election-un-sb-02bfc7e.html

[5] "Canada says Iranian "brute force" unacceptable", Reuters, Jun 22, 2009
http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE55L4V520090622

[6] Hines, Nico/ Booth, Jenny: “'Outraged' Brown and Obama condemn Iran as election crisis worsens”, Times Online, June 23, 2009, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6564441.ece

[7] “West articulates rising anger with Iran, Reuters,” AFP, Jun 21, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090621/wl_afp/iranpoliticsworld

[8] “Iran lashes out at West, media over unrest,” AFP, Jun 21, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090621/wl_mideast_afp/iranpoliticsunrestwestmedia

[9] "L'attitude des autorités iraniennes est 'inexcusable', selon Nicolas Sarkozy," Nouvel Observateur, Jun 21, 2009 http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/depeches/international/proche_moyenorient/
20090621.FAP9763/iran_lattitude_des_autorites_iraniennes_est_inexcusable.html

[10] „Merkel fordert Neuauszählung der Wahlzettel,“ Spiegel, Jun 21, 2009 http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,631649,00.html

[11] "Frattini: Fermare le violenze e lo spargimento di sangue," APCOM, Jun 21, 2009 http://www.apcom.net/newsesteri/20090621_215900_3f29250_64746.html 

[12] "Russia says Iran's election an 'internal affair'," Reuters, Jun 22, 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSTRE55L4PG20090622?tr=y&auid=5000565

[13] "Iran 'would like nuclear option'," BBC, Jun 17, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8104388.stm
"Iran wants nuclear weapon technology -ElBaradei", Reuters, Jun 17, 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLH646060

[14] Interview with PM Netanyahu on NBC's Meet the Press, MFA, Jun 21, 2009
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders
/2009/Interview_PM_Netanyahu_NBC_Meet_the_Press_21-Jun-2009.htm

[15] “Gulf Arabs give muted reaction to Ahmadinejad win,”, Reuters, Jun 15, 2009 http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE55E25G20090615

[16] “Most Arabs won't miss Iran's ayatollahs if they fall,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, Jun 22, 2009 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184891821&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull