Tehran, May 02: Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi said on Saturday that he and fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi were not “topplers” of the country’s regime, an opposition website reported.
“We are neither topplers (of the regime) or lackeys of foreigners,” said Karroubi who has continued to launch his tirades against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.
“I and Mr. Mousavi have held positions within the regime, but do not consider ourselves as the owners (of the regime), but soldiers of the revolution and the Islamic republic,” he was quoted as saying on Rahesabz website.
Karroubi, who along with Mousavi has remained steadfast in rejecting Ahmadinejad’s re-election, warned that the regime had been distanced from the masses and its promises made 30 years ago.
“What we are saying today is that we have distanced a lot from the slogans and promises that were made to the people in the early stages of the revolution,” the reformist cleric who had lost to Ahmadinejad in June 2009 presidential poll told a group of reformists, the website said.
Karroubi said the regime was “confronting” its own forces now, something that was warned about years ago and if it “continues on its current path, then nothing will remain, but only a name.”
He reiterated that the opposition movement planned to hold a demonstration on June 12, the anniversary of last year’s poll, where “a demand to hold a free election will be made.”
The June 2009 election of Ahmadinejad triggered a political crisis in the republic, with widespread protests erupting in Tehran and other cities against the president, where dozens have been killed.
—Agencies