Report: Mousavi Placed Under House Arrest in Iran

Others Also Reportedly Detained as Clashes in Tehran Grow

As the violence in Tehran continues to worsen, several as yet unconfirmed reports have emerged suggesting that the chief opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has been placed under house arrest. Mousavi has accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of having rigged the election, and claims to have actually won by a wide margin.

Some of the reports have said that Mousavi was arrested while en route to the home of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is being claimed that other opposition figures have been arrested as well, but with the chaos in post-election Tehran restricting the movement of foreign reporters those reports have yet to be confirmed either.

The official results released by Iran’s Interior Ministry says President Ahmadinejad won by a surprisingly large margin, but Mousavi has condemned the results as a “dangerous plot” and has said he will not surrender until it has been uncovered.

Analysts had predicted that the record turnout would favor the challenger, and some are pointing to the official results in individual Iranian cities as perplexing given the historical ethnic and regional splits in past elections.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.