. . . Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, de facto leaders of the Green Movement, had issued a statement on June 10 asking their supporters to stay home.
According to Fars, a semi-official news agency with intimate ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Moussavi and Karroubi were afraid of low turnouts and that was why they canceled plans for demonstrations. Fars also claims that former President Mohammad Khatami had warned Moussavi and Karroubi not to hold another rally and to avoid another embarrassment; otherwise he would be forced to withdraw his public support of them.
Borna, a pro-government news site, reported that the opposition was unable to even attract bystanders to watch their minuscule protest. Borna writes, “A number of troublemakers gathering in front of Tehran University’s School of Engineering tried to attract an audience by chanting ‘Allah Akbar’ but students smirked and walked past them.”
 “Western Media: Tehran Was Quiet; Greens’ Activity Is Over” — Kayhan Headline, 24 Khordad 1389/14 June 2010 |
An editorial penned by Chief Editor Hossein Shariatmadari, Kayhan, a pro-government newspaper with ties to the Supreme Leader’s office, claims that Moussavi, Karroubi, and Khatami were after “. . .confronting Islam and the revolution.” This bold claim advanced by Shariatmadari, who is Ali Khamenei’s representative at Kayhan, argues that leaders of “sedition” are in bed with the West, particularly the United States, and pursue the goal of uprooting the Islamic Republic. According to Kayhan, the opposition in Iran is following a strategy dictated to them by Western policy makers and political elites.
In a different column, Kayhan pokes fun at Moussavi and Karroubi’s decision to cancel demonstrations and argues that their decision stemmed from their lack of popular support among the masses. . . .
The text above is an excerpt from an article published by insideIRAN.org on 12 June 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.
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