No new vote as Iran expels diplomats

IRAN expelled two British diplomats yesterday after bitterly accusing Britain of meddling and spying. The government also dealt a fresh blow to the opposition by making clear it will not hold a new vote despite charges of fraud.

State TV said hard-line students protested outside the British Embassy in Tehran, where they burned US, British and Israeli flags, pelted the building with tomatoes chanting: “Down with Britain” and “Down with USA”. Witnesses said about 100 took part.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it expelled the two for “unconventional behaviour,” state television reported, and Britain announced it was sending two Iranian diplomats home in retaliation.

Tensions between Iran and Britain, which has urged the Islamic regime to respect human rights, have soared.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had lashed out against Western countries he said were displaying their “enmity” against the Islamic state, “and the most evil of them is the British government.”

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has accused Britain of sending spies to manipulate the June 12 election.

Iran’s expulsions came a day after Britain sent home 12 dependents of diplomatic staff because the unrest had disrupted their lives.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi claims he was the true winner of the June 12 election, but the electoral commission declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by a landslide.

Mousavi has been out of sight in recent days and there were no reports of violent clashes yesterdasy, possibly a measure of the effectiveness of the crackdown.

However, protesters came up with new techniques, such as turning on the lights in their cars at certain hours of the day, honking their horns or holding up posters. “People are calmly protesting, more symbolically than with their voices,” a Tehran resident said in a telephone interview, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution.

In recent days, members of the elite Revolutionary Guard, the Basij militia and other security forces in riot gear have been heavily deployed across Tehran, preventing any gatherings and ordering people to keep moving.

A short message posted on Mousavi’s Web site asserted that “all the reports of violations in the elections will be published soon.”

Another opposition figure, reformist presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, called for a day of mourning for the at least 17 people killed in protests since the election.

Across the world, governments and diplomats were increasingly lining up on opposite sides in the Iranian showdown, the strongest challenge to the rule of Islamic clerics in 30 years.

In a boost for the embattled regime, Russia said yesterday it respects the declared election result. But France summoned Iran’s ambassador to express concern about what it called “brutal repression” of protesters in Tehran.

The US and many European countries have refrained from challenging the election outcome directly, but have issued increasingly stern warnings against continuing violence meted out to demonstrators. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded an immediate end to “arrests, threats and use of force.”

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the US and the rest of the world was “appalled and outraged” by Iran’s violent efforts to crush dissent. “I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering in Iran’s affairs,” Obama said. “But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.”

Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, reported the Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected Ban’s remarks and accused the UN chief of meddling.

State television said Khamenei agreed to extend by five days a deadline for making election complaints. But overall, the Iranian regime appeared determined to crush the post-election protesters.

Mousavi has charged massive vote fraud and insisted he is the true winner. However, Iran’s top electoral body, Guardian Council, found “no major fraud”.”