Iran: Interpreting Karroubi’s Recent Remarks

A debate has ensued over reports from earlier this week that Iran’s opposition movement leader Mehdi Karroubi officially recognized Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran’s president. The New York Times reported yesterday that “Iran Opposition Leaders Drop Demand for New Election,” writing that while they still view the June, 2009 elections as illegitimate, opposition leaders are now accepting the current Iranian regime as the official head of state, citing “Iranian news sources.” AlArabiya.net is also reporting today that this is the first time Karroubi has made a public acknowledgment of the regime’s leadership. Associated Press, Reuters, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are making similar reports.

However, early this morning the Los Angeles Times‘ Middle East blog offers a bit of a different interpretation of these events, writing that the “brouhaha” created by journalists over Karroubi’s comments can now be “put to rest” because of an “unambiguous denunciation” by Karroubi of the June elections. They use the Iranian news Web site Sahamnews.org to cite Karroubi as having said: “The more we go ahead, the more I’m convinced the election was massively rigged…I get new information every day, and it is regrettable to see certain officials tampered with people’s votes in this way.” The L.A. Times says a “Tehran analyst” is refuting any interpretation that Karroubi has recognized President Ahmadinejad. “Karroubi had not budged at all,” says the analyst. “Karroubi said the government is the government of the system. So it does not imply he has recognized it.”