麻豆社

麻豆社 World Service

Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei speaks

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has told a large crowd at Friday prayers in Tehran that the protests following last week's disputed presidential election are unacceptable and must end.

It was his first public appearance since he gave his unequivocal backing to President Ahmadinejad being declared the winner.

He said the demonstrators would be responsible for the consequences if their protests continued.

The 麻豆社's Julian Marshall listened to the speech.

Julian asked the 麻豆社's John Leyne in Tehran for his reaction.

The 麻豆社's Imtiaz Tyab has been monitoring social networking sites for Iranian reaction to the Ayatollah's speech as well as e-mails and other comments received by the 麻豆社.

Ghanbar Naderi is the political editor of Kayhan, a conservative newspaper in Tehran.

What did he make of the Ayatollah's speech?

Maziar Bahari is a journalist and documentary film maker in Tehran.

Will the opposition supporters in Iran heed the ayatollah's call and stand down?

First broadcast 19 June 2009