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Iran accuses VOA, BBC of stirring up post-election unrest

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-21 15:53

TEHRAN: Iran has accused Voice of America ( VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) of stirring up unrest in the country amid a dispute over the recent presidential election, the satellite channel Press TV reported Sunday.

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The two news outlets sought to stir up ethnic discord across Iran in the hope of fomenting the country's disintegration, Press TV quoted Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi as saying on Saturday.

"The channels act as command posts engineering the ongoing post- election riots," he said.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman also said that the two media served as the mouthpieces of the United States and Britain.

"VOA and BBC are state-funded channels and not privately-run. Their budgets are ratified in the US Congress, as well as the British Parliament," Qashqavi said.

He warned that any sort of contact with the two channels either through e-mail or telephone "runs against Iranian national sovereignty and is considered as an act of enmity towards the Iranian nation."

On June 13, Iran's Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 62.63 percent of the total ballots on June 12, while his main rival Mir-Hossein Mousavi got 33.75 percent.

After the official declaration, Mousavi protested "strongly" the "obvious" violations in Iran's presidential election. He also appealed to the Guardian Council for a cancellation of the election result.

Mousavi's supporters have participated in massive rallies in Tehran and other cities over the past days.

On Saturday, Iran's police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators at a main square of Tehran in the latest violent clash between protestors and security forces.