Tehran: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei said in a New Year address to the nation on Sunday
that the enemies of the Islamic republic had plans to start a
"civil war" after last June's elections.
Blaming arch-foes the United States and Israel for
much of the unrest after the presidential election, Khamenei
said: "The enemies wanted to divide the people... and to
create a civil war, but the nation was alert.
"If they were able to do it, the US and Zionist regime
would have sent troops to Tehran's streets, but they knew it
would hurt them. Thus they spread propaganda and supported the
rioters."
Iran was plunged into one of its worst political
crises after the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
in a vote his rivals claim was massively rigged.
In the post-election, unrest dozens of people were
killed as opposition supporters clashed frequently with
security forces on the streets of Tehran.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 21, 2010, 22:11