Honduras showdown boils over, Update: 2 dead

A supporter of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya shows his bloodstained hands after helping wounded peeple during clashes with soldiers at Toncontin International Airpot in Tegucigalpa Sunday. (AFP)

The shit is going to hit the fan in Honduras today, and few seem to be watching.

I think it's because Latin American conflicts aren't as sexy as Middle Eastern ones. Perhaps it's because these countries are too close to home, therefore not exotic enough, although probably it's because they don't represent a nuclear threat. Then again hot Latin tempers can't outdo volatile Iranian or Iraqi or Palestinian tempers...

The unrest in Honduras won't match that in Iran in the aftermath of the June 12 elections, but people will be hurt, some might die, and--once again, for the second time in less than a month--the international community will find itself wondering what to do, if anything.

After years of military coups, Honduras settled into democracy in the 80s. But a week ago, its president was ousted by a military-led coup d'etat, and despite strong international opposition to the coup and calls for the interim government to restore President Manueal Zelaya, the new leaders aren't backing down, but neither is Zelaya.

Supporters of the deposed president have been rallying and protesting his removal in the streets of capital city Tegucigalpa, clashing with police and soldiers.

Supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya clashed with soldiers near the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa on June 29, a day after Zelaya was ousted. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

These encounters should turn more violent today, when Zelaya will attempt to return in defiance of the interim government's warnings that he's not welcome and would be arrested if he tried.

Zelaya is on his way to the Central American country as we speak to reclaim his post undeterred by threats from coup leaders he would be arrested if he set foot on Honduras.

“I am the commander-in-chief of the armed forces elected by the people, and I ask the armed forces to comply with this order to open up the airport and avoid any problems with the landing,” Zelaya said according to the local Telesur TV.

United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D'escoto is on the plane with Zelaya, while a delegation of supporters including Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and presidents Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay is flying on a separate plane to nearby El Salvador.

"It is important that Insulza go with Zelaya to avoid the manipulation of information, " Fernandez de Kirchner said. "It's not an ideological problem but one of the restoration of democracy."

The de-facto government is determined to block his return--denying permission for Zelaya's plane to land, closing the airport and access to it, boosting police and military reinforcements at the airport and surrounding areas, and vowing to arrest Zelaya if he enters the country any which way.

Enrique Ortez, foreign minister the caretaker government in Honduras, said any aircraft carrying Zelaya would not be allowed to land.

"I have given orders that he not be allowed back. We cannot allow recklessness," he told local radio.

Right: A soldier stands guard at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Sunday.

The 34-member OAS yesterday expelled Honduras from the group because of coup leaders' refusal to restore Zelaya.

Zelaya originally planned to return Thursday but postponed his trip until a OAS deadline to allow him to return to his post expired Saturday.

So far, Zelaya has given no indication of changing his mind, which means a showdown--most likely violent--is imminent.

Since the coup, Zelaya has called on his supporters to protest using only non-violent methods, but the interim government is fully armed and, apparently, ready to do whatever it takes to keep Zelaya out of Honduras, enforcing curfews and passing resolutions suspending Hondurans constitutional rights in the meantime.

At dawn on June 28, a military-led coup d'etat removed Zelaya from power. The reason: despite strong opposition from the country's high court, Congress and military, Zelaya instroduced and pushed a referendum to draft a new constitution that, among other things, would allow presidents to run for a second four-year term.

Zelaya fired the head of the military for not supporting the referendum, but the Supreme Court, which deemed the referendum illegal, ruled the firing was illegal and reinstated General Romeo Velasquez to his post.

Last Sunday, under orders from the Supreme Court and just hours before the polls were scheduled to open for the referendum, the army stormed the presidential residence, arrested president Zelaya and put him on a plane to Costa Rica, then took possession of the residence. Congress faked a letter of resignation from Zelaya and voted to place its leader, Roberto Micheletti, as interim president of Honduras. Hondurans have taken to the streets both in support and opposition to Zelaya's return.

The leftist leader has been adamant about returning to Honduras to complete his term, which began in 2006 and is set to end in 2010. Neighboring Latin American countries, the U.S., European Union, UN and OAS, among other countries and groups, back him. But the new governement is not giving in, claiming there was no coup but a constitutional removal of the president from power due to his illegal actions.

Micheletti said he was open to “good faith” talks with the OAS, but reiterated that his government was legitimate and would not be moved.

“We are going to remain here until the country becomes calm,” he said.

The clock is ticking.

A fatally wounded supporter of Manuel Zelaya--a 10-year-old boy--is carried away after he was apparently shot by Honduran soldiers outside of the international airport in Tegucigalpa July 5. (AP Photo)

UPDATE: The shit hits the fan, 2 dead...so far

As predicted, the alarm went off, unleashing intensified violence between Zelaya supporters and soldiers outside the Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa ahead of Zelaya's arrival.

Troops reportedly fired shots in the air and used tear gas to control the crowd.

Two casualties have been reported so far: an 18-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. (Now, what are children doing in such a place? Why would parents take a 5-year-old kid to such an event?)

Zelaya begged for permission to land, but it was denied. The plane also could not land because of vehicles the military placed on the runway.

"If I could parachute to the ground, I would," he said via phone from the plane.

The plane reportedly is was heading to El Salvador but ended up landing on Managua, Nicaragua, because of fuel issues.

Meanwhile, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez reportedly has had the audacity to accuse the "yankee's government" for supporting Honduras' interim government.

Come again?

So the all-powerful U.S. somehow masterminded the coup d'etat in Honduras and the bloodbath that followed the June 12 presidential elections in Iran. I suppose it could happen. I mean, it's not like the resources aren't there, but we've got bigger fish to fry right now--don't we?

Source: Telesur via BNO

Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

Recent Honduras posts:
Ousted Honduras president in his words, posted June 28
Honduras president resigns...not!, posted June 28
Coup d'etat in Honduras, Zelaya safe in Costa Rica, posted June 28

Unimaginable horror In Tehran today

The Iran government said Wednesday that the presence of sufficient security forces in Tehran today prevented the violence seen in previous days, according to a CNN reported.

The following story was published by ThreatsWatch.org today, and I've decided to pass it on exactly as it was submitted--no rewriting, no editing (except some spelling and style corrections), no additional reporting from other sources, no commentary from me.

By Steve Schippert on June 24, 2009 at 3:30 PM

Iran has executed its Tiananmen Square. Baharestan Square has become synonymous with barbarity, cruelty, massacre and inhumanity.

An Iranian blogger (whose URL I will not publish) live blogging from Baharestan Square in central Tehran today captures but brief glimpses of the unimaginable horror that took place today. Bus loads of protesters were stopped and unloaded from their buses by "black-clad police" and literally herded. When the massing was sufficient, as the barely controlably distraught Tehran caller to CNN described first hand, hundreds of the regime's Basij thugs poured out of an adjoining mosque and commenced a massacre with axes, clubs, guns and gas.

From the live blogger's eyewitness account:

> More than 10,000 Bassij militias got in position in central Tehran, including Baharestan Square.
> Army helicopters flying over Baharestan and Vali Asr Square.
> The streets, squares and around Baharestan (south-east of Tehran) are swarming with military forces, civilian forces, security motorists.
> The crowd have moved to the south of Baharestan, the situation is bad; the shooting has started.
> In Baharestan Square [there's] police shooting; a girl is shot, and the police is not allowing [others] to help.
> In Baharestan we saw militia with axe chopping people like meat--blood everywhere--like butcher.

This is the Iranian regime, wading into its own unarmed people and axing them to death, bludgeoning women (seen as the greatest threat to the regime) and throwing them to their deaths from pedestrian bridges. The same Iranian regime whose embassy officials are invited to American embassies around the world to celebrate on July 4th, of all things, a successful revolution.

This frantic phone call from a Tehran woman will break your heart as you consider our standard response has been "that there are sets of international norms and principles about violence" and that "the international community is watching." Part of yesterday's response by President Obama in a press conference included "that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy (of the Iranian regime) and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it." The Iranian theocratic regime clearly is not interested.

There should not be--nor should have ever been--invitations to the ruthless Iranian regime's international ambassadors to celebrate anything with us, anywhere, unless it is an invitation to a tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity.

To my intelligent friends who have been arguing the logic of our President's near silence on the issue of Iran--and not without merit on certain points--you can disengage from me now. I will entertain none of it any longer.

This is an axe wound, just one, doled out by the regime's thug Basiji animals on Saturday, June 20.

This was a brutal murder of an assuredly unarmed protester of the up-close-and-personal variety. An act, and one not isolated, which requires the presence of inhumane malice and aggression and the absence of humanity. The traits required for massacres upon the unarmed. There is no nuance, no logical approach, no deft explanation that covers near silence and inadequate, tepid condemnation of the meekest sort. To decline any mention of possible repercussions on the regime for these acts "because we don't know how this is going to turn out" is moral cowardice of the highest order. Look at the picture above and listen to the frantic woman calling in to CNN again. They seem to "know how this is going to turn out."

There is a way to condemn a regime axing its citizens in the streets of Tehran and other cities across Iran without "making this about the U.S." You, and our President, are intelligent men and women and lacking no gifts of speech and prose. Find what's missing. Each of you frustrate and sadden me. Argue your eloquent points elsewhere. My ears are deaf as of now.

Source: ThreatsWatch.org
ThreatsWatch.Org was established in 2005 as the means to disseminate information on national security threats in an accessible, interactive and contextually aware form. In 2007 ThreatsWatch.Org became the web-based publication of the Center for Threat Awareness (CTA), a 501(c)3 tax-exempt corporation whose mission is to increase public awareness of threats to national security and liberty.

Techonolgy wins in Iran, revolt continues...

Neda Agha-Soltan has became an icon of Iran unrest after she was shot and killed during a protest in Tehran this weekend. (Photo is a still from a YouTube video that captured her last moments before dying.)

All eyes and ears are on Iran, and for the first time it's not because of the award-winning coverage of the media.

Technology has turned average citizens into reporters and photojournalists whose real-time correspondence can be seen and heard throughout the world on computer screens, blackberries and cellphones via text messaging, blogs, emails and social network websites such as Facebook and Twitter. This steady stream of manic reports and images has made every person on the other side of the source an eye witness to these events.

The value of Twitter, a fun and "cute" website set up to enable friends and strangers to be in constant, instant communication with each other and to entertain them in the process, shoot up at rocket speed when it became the news source this weekend, with so-called tweets flowing at a rate of dozens per second, hundreds per minute.

Without these reports, news networks such as CNN would've been lost in the aftermath of the June 12 presidential elections, when confronted with increasing violence stemming from clashes between protesters and security forces the Iranian government banned foreign press coverage of the events.

Well, it didn't work.

Rather than decrease exposure, the communication blackout increased it by encouraging people to seek out information rather than wait for the media to feed it to them.

Without technology in the hands of ordinary people, the world would've never learned about Neda Agha-Soltan (right)--a 26-year-old woman described by family and friends as a "beam of light,” a music and travel lover but never an activist--shot by militia during a rally whose death was captured by a cellphone camera, the graphic images disseminated throughout the world turning her into the movement's first martyr.

Neda Agha-Soltan has become an icon of Iran unrest. In less than a minute, amateur footage shot using a cellphone and later posted on YouTube for all to see, shows Neda bleeding and dying after being hit by a bullet on the neck. This is one of many examples, possibly the most powerful yet, of civilians' ability to document and report events inside Iran despite government restrictions on foreign media as well as Internet and phone lines. (Getty/Handout)

What now?

The public outcry for democracy, justice and freedom has not been silenced despite the government's efforts to crush the masses of people that have taken to the streets of Tehran to protest the election results they claim were rigged to declare incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.

The question, for me at least, has been, will it make a difference? Will their efforts to call attention to their cause spark long-term change in Iran or just lead to more of what we have already seen? How long before they give up? If the uprising produces nothing but more violence, why continue to put their lives in danger?

And danger is what they're facing everyday in Tehran--ongoing protests, rallies, fires, clashes, batons, rocks, tear gas, opposers, supporters, riot police...more violence and chaos.

I wonder if there's a point of no return, and if they have reached it.

A tanker would end this. But now that Iran knows a ban on foreign press coverage is useless, would it unleash such military force on its people while the world watches?

A leaderless revolution with many captains

Earlier today, one of the CNN anchors said he's been in contact with a 19-year-old young woman in Iran who has been sending him messages and photos via email. Soon after she was on the phone live from Iran.

The girl reportedly was badly beaten Saturday but returned to the streets today.

Below are some of her statements, some paraphrased and some in quotes, most of which were replies to questions from the anchor.

• When asked about beatings she said: "I have been beaten so many times...and this time it doesn't matter...I just want to help my brothers and my sisters...". She said she saw an old woman and three others being beaten at a bus stop by Basij (Iranian militia) who were telling them to leave, "but the old woman said this is her country...and she's waiting for husband to pick her up and would not move...they beat her and three others."
• About Neda, the woman who has become the symbol of this movement, she said she tried to go to the memorial but police stopped her. She added that people are chanting: "We don't want you to kill another Neda--we are all Nedas today."
• When questioned about a 5-year-old boy who was hurt by the Basij, she said they "hit him with motorcycle...a woman over him was crying for help and we went to help her but police would not let us."
• Regarding whether or not she thought the elections were a success, she replied: "I don't know why they make a fool of themselves because everyone knows...everyone took part in this election because we don't want Ahmadinejad to be president...that's why we all went out...we wanted Mousavi to be our president."
• When asked why she kept going back and risk being beaten again or worse, she said: "because I think it's my, um, responsibility, because many of my friends are in this situation, then I stay at home I worry about my friends other women other boys that are hit, then i think maybe I should go and help them."
• To a question about what she and others say to the police who beat them, she replied: "If you're Iranian you should not beat your mother, your brother, your sister."
• Regarding the role of women in the protests she said: "If you want the truth, I think that women are more than men...the women are all together...they are so more than men...the women, they don't have a chance to express themselves to say that we're important in the future of our country...and now we can play a role...it's a good chance for us."
• And, finally, when asked how she feels about the current state of affairs in Iran, she replied: "I'm absolutely optimistic because history has taught me that every revolution is fought like this...some people die, but nothing stays the same forever...this is how revolutions are...unfortunately we don't have a leader, and that's not good."

At the end of the call, she thanked the anchor for listening to her.

Former Crown Prince Pahlavi on Iran

Former Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. (AFP)

Former Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi said Monday the protests in his country were supported by much of the military and clerical establishment and could end up bringing down the entire Islamic government.

Pahlavi, who has sought an end to the Islamic regime since his father was deposed in the 1979 revolution, said he had sources within the military and intelligence that were ready to switch sides, with some refusing to carry out orders to suppress the protests.

"It's almost a revolutionary climate," an at-times teary-eyed Pahlavi told reporters in Washington.

He said "a movement" was born on June 12, the day the presidential elections were held.

"It is not Islamic or anti-Islamic, it is not for capitalism or socialism, nor any other ideology or specific form of government. It cares little about historical squabbles before its birth. It is about the sanctity, even more, the sovereignty of the ballot box. It may not succeed immediately. It may have ebbs and flows. But, let me assure you it will not die, because we will not let it die," he said.

He noted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sealed his own fate by backing Ahmadinejad.

"A week (after the elections), the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic decided to stand erect as a dam in front of this movement, sanctioning theft of the ballot box and flagrant fraud, all in the name of Islam," he said.

"It was an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man. It will not stand. The citizens of Iran will not stand it. And at the end, he will not stand."

Pahlavi, who was exiled from Iran and now lives in the U.S., warned that a failure of the protest movement would encourage more "extremism" in Iran and urged foreign governments to not fall for the "foreign interference" trap the Iranian regime would use to further crush human rights.

"Your governments have insisted that they would not interfere in Iran's internal affairs. I applaud that," he said. "Any such attempt will give the tyrants the excuse they need to paper over their own differences, and target every man struggling for freedom as a foreign agent. But that is not all they do. They are painting every statement in defense of human rights as foreign interference, benefiting from the confusion between the two."

"It is vital that the free world not fall for such cruel cynicism in the name of realpolitik," he added.

He said that Moussavi, who was part of the 1979 revolution, would soon have to decide whether he will seek a complete overhaul of Iran's regime.

"You can't at the same time hold allegiance to the regime and at the same time hold allegiance to the people," Pahlavi said. "This is no longer tenable."

If you ask me, I believe we won't be seeing Ahmadinejad any time soon because an assassination attempt is all but sure the moment he steps on any street of Tehran.

Sources: CNN, My Twisted Mind; Pahlavi story: mostersandcritic,PR Newswire
Copyright © 2009

Gripping images from Iran

A woman holds her baby, draped in green, during a campaign rally in support of moderate presidential election candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. (Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)

A picture on TwitPic shows Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters marching across a bridge in Tehran. (AFP)

Iranian protesters cover their face from tear gas in Tehran. (Ali Safari/AFP/Getty Images)

Police in riot gear block Mousavi supporters (Focus/Salehi/Rex Features)

A policeman is held back. (Olivier Laban-mattei/AFP/Getty Images)

A supporter of Mousavi holds a picture of a man who had been shot in the previous day's protests over the disputed election. At least seven people were reported killed. (Getty Images)

A woman attends a state-organized rally in a square in central Tehran. (Getty Images)

Death toll climbs to over 150 in Iran fallout

According to media and eye witness reports from Tehran, more than 150 people have been killed so far, 19 today, in the aftermath of last week's presidential elections in Iran, with hundreds more injured.

In addition to city-wide chaos, reports of the Basij militia raiding homes and stores and showing up without uniform at hospitals to obtain the names of protesters are spreading via Twitter and YouTube, which has videos of these and other events unfolding in Iran as we speak. Basij militia reportedly is blocking access to embassy to which many are flocking seeking aid.

In unrest unseen since the Islamic revolution swept the country 30 years ago, supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who campaigned on promises of change for Iran, took to the streets after the elections last weekend to protest what they claim was a fraudulent vote count to declare President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.

On Friday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisted the vote count was legit, gave Ahmadinejad his blessing, and ordered the demonstrations to end.

Below are highlights from his speech:

"The result of the election comes out of the ballot box, not from the street."

"The legal structure of the election does not allow any vote rigging. Everyone who was in charge of the elections process confirms this fact — and to do so with a difference of 11 million votes...Sometimes there is 100,000 votes here, 200,000 votes there, or 1 million maximum, then one can question whether there has been some rigging or manipulation or irregularities. But there is a difference of 11 million votes. How could this be rigged?"

"I am urging them to end street protests, otherwise they will be responsible for its consequences, and consequences of any chaos.

"If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible."

More to come...

Sources: CNN, AP, Twitter

Obama to Iran: 'the world is watching'

As if Obama didn't have enough crises to juggle, both domestic and international, he's now being blasted by--big surprise--Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his posse for not showing enough support to the Iran protesters.

Yo! What is he supposed to do? Go into Iran as Bush went into Iraq and "show them how it's done"? Puh-lease.

In my view, if you have nothing constructive to contribute to this, or any other situation, just shut the fuck up. Sorry, but opportunistic politicizing pisses me off.

I'd like to see McCain face and handle half of the crap Obama is facing and managing as president, crap that, by the way, and I don't care what anybody says, was largely brought on by W and his administration's hardheaded, arrogant, stupid, shortsighted policies. McCain would dropped the ball sometime in the first week, if you ask me.

In response to the clusterfuck in Iran today, the White House released the following statement by President Obama:

"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."

Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton was quoted by AP saying the Iranian government is trying to block modern ideas and freedom.

Sources: BNO News, My Twisted Mind; photo source unknown
Copyright © 2009

Chaos in Iran, suicide bomb kills 60+ in Iraq

This image taken from amateur video posted online from Tehran June 20 shows supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossien Mousavi protesting in Tehran. Eyewitnesses described fierce clashes after some 3,000 protesters, many wearing black, chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" near Revolution Square. (Fox News)

Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the presidential elections last weekend, but turmoil and violence continue to rule in Iran, particularly in the capital city of Tehran.

Rallies again led to clashes between sides--Mousavi vs. Ahmadinejad supporters--and with Iranian security forces trying to control the protesters.

Although the Iranian government sent notices to journalists prohibiting them from covering the demonstrations, numerous news and witness reports, including images and video, are being leaked to the media via blogs, instant messaging and websites such as Facebook and Twitter, among other outlets, and broadcast by news networks such as CNN.

The images show streets packed with protesters and police, and instances of beatings, gunfire, wounded people lying on the ground bleeding, tear gas and water cannons being used by security forces, and motor vehicles on fire, among others. Mousavi supporters reportedly set a mosque on fire.
One video shows police hitting women with clubs. Several show men and women lying on the ground covered in blood after being beaten or shot, and in another a woman is trying to protect a young man who's being beaten and kicked by protesters after being thrown off his bike.
Several Twitter reports stated a hospital close to the scene is reporting 30 to 40 casualties and more than 200 injured.

Iranian state media is reporting the situation has returned to normal with "sporadic clashes." Mousavi said today he's ready for martyrdom willing to die for the cause behind the protests--the claim that last week presidential elections were rigged. Meanwhile, rallies against the Iran elections are underway at several U.S. cities, among them New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., as well as in foreign cities such as Hamburg, Germany; Sidney, Australia; and Paris, France.

Yesterday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backed Ahmadinejad during the Friday morning prayer session.

Left: An image of the ayatollah delivering his sermon, taken from IRIB television by The Associated Press. (AP/IRIB)

He said Ahmadinejad won a "definitive victory" in the June 12 election and denied vote-rigging, adding that "rioting after the election is not a good way. It questions the election. If they continue [the consequences] will be their responsibility. ... I'm asking my friends and brothers to follow the laws. Let God give us blessing to follow those ways."

Well, how could they protest the election results before the election?

He praised Ahmadinejad as a "hard working" leader and blamed western governments and media for undermining the election process. Ugh.

Many residents, however, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" and "Death to the dictator!" from rooftops throughout Tehran in defiance to Khamenei, NBC News reported..

Suicide truck bomb kills over 60 people in Iraq

In Iraq, a suicide truck bombing near a Shiite mosque killed at least 64 people and wounded at least 166 Saturday in a city close to Kirkuk, Iraq, an official with Kirkuk police said according to a CNN report.

The explosion occurred in a busy area near the Rasoul mosque, police said, and a number of people were trapped under rubble.

Police said at least 25 houses and shops were destroyed.

The blast took place about 1 p.m. in the town of Taza, about 10 miles southwest of Kirkuk and 149 miles north of Baghdad, CNN reported. Taza is predominately inhabited by Shiite Turkmen.

Above: Iraqis search through the wreckage of a truck bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Saturday. (Getty Images)

Last week, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned of increased political violence in the country, mentioning a deadly bombing on June 10 in the southern town of Bathaa that killed more than 30 people and injured dozens.

He said there will be attempts to undermine Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops complete their withdrawal from Iraqi cities by the end of the month and ahead of upcoming national elections.

Sources: BNO, CNN, Reuters, Fox News
Copyright © 2009

Foreign coverage restricted in Tehran

Left: Al-Alam footage shows Ahmadinejad supporters rallying Tuesday in central Tehran. (AFP/Getty Images)

As thousands took to the streets again on Tuesday, Iran's government banned international journalists from covering rallies and blocked access to some online communication tools in the wake of last week's disputed presidential election, CNN reported Tuesday.

Reporters working for international news outlets, including CNN, could talk about the rallies in their live reports but were not allowed to leave their hotel rooms and offices.

The decision was an apparent reaction to video showing violence at recent demonstrations in support of Mir Hossein Moussavi, who is disputing the results of Friday's presidential election. The government has criticized some of that coverage and the images, describing them as biased.

Iran also blocked access to certain online communication tools, text and video, but many Iranians were able to find a way around the restrictions.

Iran's all-powerful leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appealed to the citizenry on Tuesday to stand behind the Islamic republic.

"Some people are against the unity of the Iranian nation and the solidarity of the Islamic system," Khamenei said in a meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates, government-funded Press TV reported.

"Such acts and vandalism and some crimes that were committed are not related to the candidates' supporters, but to disturbers of peace, and all should stand against them," Khamenei said.

Right: A protester injured during Monday's demonstration in Tehran is carried to a hospital. (European Press Photo Agency)

Iranian government-run television was not affected by the media restrictions. It aired live coverage of Tuesday's rally in support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose supporters crowded the streets of central Tehran.

Meanwhile, Iran's Guardian Council--an unelected panel of 12 top clerics and judges--agreed Tuesday to recount some votes in the disputed presidential election. But Moussavi asked instead for fresh elections.

Moussavi asked his supporters to forgo their planned rally Tuesday in the same area as the pro-Ahmadinejad gathering at Vali Asr Square in central Tehran. Instead, his supporters gathered at another location in Tehran, according to video footage of the rally.

Moussavi has contested the results of Friday's election, which showed an overwhelming victory for Ahmadinejad. His supporters have taken to the streets every day since the election, often clashing with police and Ahmadinejad's backers, asking for fresh elections. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a recount would provide another opportunity for the government to manipulate the results.

Source: CNN
Copyright © 2009