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TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's supreme leader said Friday there was "definitive victory" and no rigging in disputed presidential elections that set off days of unprecedented protests.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered no concession to opposition supporters who were demanding the elections be canceled and held again.
He blamed Britain and Iran's external enemies for the unrest, vigorously defending the ruling system in his first public comments since supporters of challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi flooded the streets.
The address came one day after hundreds of thousands of protesters in black and green flooded the streets of Tehran in a somber, candlelit show of mourning for those killed in clashes after Iran's disputed presidential election.
The massive march — the fourth this week — sent a strong message that opposition leader Mousavi had the popular backing to sustain his challenge.
Packed hall:
Addressing the country in a rare speech at Friday prayers at Tehran University, Khamenei said the elections showed off the country's religious democracy for the world to see.
During the address to a packed hall that included President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Khamenei said that if the Iranian people did not feel free they would not have gone to the polls in such huge numbers as they did during the June 12 election.
"Trust in the Islamic establishment was evident in this election," Khamenei said in a rare public statement before a crowd in Tehran.
"They want to cast doubt on this establishment and create panic among the people," Khamenei said, placing blame on the "Zionist," British and American media.
Ahmadinejad was named the winner in the disputed election, leading to widespread protests that have formed an unprecedented challenge to the country's ruling clerics.
'Enemies of Islam' blamed:
Khamenei blamed foreign enemies for claiming that the election was a competition between forces inside and outside the Islamic establishment.
"This is not true — all four candidates are part of the Islamic establishment," he said.
Taking a historical perspective, Khamenei called for patience and told the crowd of thousands of men that the "enemies of Islam have always attempted to create agitation in the hearts of Muslims."
Khamenei has already approved the election results that gave Ahmadinejad a landslide victory, but he had not been able to ignore the powerful defiance of the opposition, which has called the vote rigged, of his authority.
Press TV, an English-language version of Iranian state television, showed television pictures of the crowded hall where Khamenei was speaking.
Thousands could be heard chanting "Death to the U.K., Israel and the U.S.," as the supreme leader spoke.
Approved results:
After the June 12 elections, Khamenei approved the balloting results as a "divine assessment" and urged the Iranian people to pursue their allegations of election fraud within the limits of the cleric-led system.
But this week's rallies, which recall the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended the Iran's U.S.-backed monarchy, openly defied those orders.
It may be hard for Khamenei — a man endowed with virtually limitless powers under Iran's constitution — to back down from his support of Ahmadinejad. But Mousavi and his supporters have also shown that they can't be brushed aside.
Even Ahmadinejad has appeared to take the growing opposition more seriously and backtracked on his previous dismissal of the protesters as "dust" and sore losers.
"I was only addressing those who rioted, set fires and attack people. I said they are nothing," Ahmadinejad said in a previously taped video shown Thursday on state TV. "Every single Iranian is valuable. Government is a service to all."
Saturday meeting:
The government has tried to placate Mousavi and his supporters by inviting him and two other candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad to a meeting Saturday with the Guardian Council. Abbasali Khadkhodaei, a spokesman for the council, said it received 646 complaints from the three candidates.
Mousavi accuses the government of widespread vote-rigging and demands a full recount or a new election, flouting the will of Khamenei.
The Guardian Council also has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. But Mousavi accuses the government of widespread vote-rigging and demands a full recount or a new election, flouting the will of Khamenei.
Iran's ruling clerics still command deep public support and are defended by Iran's most powerful military force — the Revolutionary Guard — as well as a vast network of militias.
But Mousavi's movement has forced Khamenei into the center of the escalating crisis, questioning his role as the final authority on all critical issues.
So far, protesters have focused on the results of the balloting rather than challenging the Islamic system of government. But a shift in anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy could result in a showdown over the foundation of Iran's system of rule.
The crowds in Tehran and elsewhere have been able to organize despite a government clampdown on the Internet and cell phones. The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are vital conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence.
Text messaging, which is a primary source of spreading information in Tehran, has not been working since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down. The government also has barred foreign news organizations from reporting on Tehran's streets.
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