Iranian Leaders at Odds on Election Results

Ministers at odds as violent scenes come to light
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 21, 2009 7:16 AM CDT
Iranian Leaders at Odds on Election Results
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki attends a ministerial meeting for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana, Wednesday, April 29, 2009.    (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

A rift is growing between Iran’s political leadership as two top-ranking officials issued opposing statements on the results of the recent presidential election, CNN reports. The country’s parliamentary speaker today suggested Iran’s election authority had sided “with a certain candidate,” while the foreign minister claimed the possibility of election fraud to be “almost close to zero.”

Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani is seen as aligned with Iran’s supreme leader, but there are tensions between Larijani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, CNN notes. Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said an election-fraud probe would be announced by the end of the week. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports are putting the death toll after yesterday’s protests as high as 150. Hospital sources have confirmed 19 deaths.
(More Iran stories.)

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