Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly gave defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi an ultimatum this week to either accept the disputed results of the recent elections, or leave the country for exile.
Khamenei had earlier instructed Mousavi to stand beside him as he uses his prayer sermon to call for national unity, according to The London Times.
The reformist candidate did not accede to this request and his supporters have so far ignored Kahmeini's call to support Ahmadinejad, holding huge rallies in defiance of an official ban.
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Khamenei's speech Friday followed a sixth day of protests by Mousavi supporters.
On Thursday, hundreds of thousands of protesters wearing black and carrying candles filled the streets of Tehran again, joining Mousavi to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes over Iran's disputed election.
The massive protest openly defied orders from Iran's supreme leader, despite a government attempt to placate Mousavi and his supporters by inviting the reformist, and two other candidates who ran against hard-liner Ahmadinejad, to a meeting with the country's main electoral authority.
Many in the huge crowd carried black candles and lit them as night fell.
Others wore green wristbands and carried flowers in mourning as they filed into Imam Khomenei Square, a large plaza in the heart of the capital named for the founder of the Islamic Revolution, witnesses said.
Ahmadinejad released a largely conciliatory recorded statement on state TV Thursday, distancing himself from his past criticism of protesters, whom he compared to dust and sore losers after a soccer match.
"I only addressed those who made riot, set fires and attacked people," the statement said. "Every single Iranian is valuable. The government is at everyone's service. We like everyone."
Khamenei, meanwhile, has urged the people to pursue their allegations of election fraud within the limits of the cleric-led system. Mousavi and his followers have rejected compromise and pressed their demands for a new vote, flouting the will of a man endowed with virtually limitless powers under Iran's constitution.
The unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities.
Mousavi, who has said he won the election, says the Guardian Council supports Ahmadinejad and has demanded an independent investigation, as well as a new election
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
6/19/09
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