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Mousavi, Khatami Declare Iranian Government ‘Illegitimate’

Fellow Reformist Karroubi Vows to Continue Fight 'Using Every Means'

by Jason Ditz, July 01, 2009

In his first public statement in days, former Iranian Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi declared the Iranian government to be illegitimate and insisted it was the opposition’s “historical responsibility to continue our protests.”

Mir-Hossein Mousavi

Fellow Reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who also claims June’s election was fraudulent, concurred with Mousavi’s proclamation, insisting “I don’t consider this government legitimate. I will continue the fight under any circumstances and using every means.”

The Interior Ministry declared incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of the election, and after weeks of investigation into the allegations of fraud from Mousavi and Karroubi, the Guardian Council said there was no evidence of large scale fraud and has said the election will stand. Former President Khatami has also criticized the results, calling them a “coup against democracy.”

Mousavi claims to have documents that prove he actually won the election, and is planning to present the heretofore secret documents to a committee of Iranian scholars which are supposedly being formed to challenge the results of the election.