TEHRAN, Iran — The head of Iran’s opposition warned the country’s hardline political leaders Monday that they could suffer the same fate as the deposed shah if they continue to consolidate their grip on power.
The comparison was Mir Hossein Mousavi’s first direct criticism of a ruling system that he was once firmly a part of.
Specifically, he accused hard-liners of moving toward an oppressive, oneparty system, something that the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi did in his last years in power by outlawing all but his Rastakhiz party.
“Pahlavi in the final years of the former regime declared Rastakhiz as the only party authorized to operate in the country, and we all saw what his fate was,” Mousavi said in comments posted on his website Monday.
Mousavi, a former prime minister, was a fervent supporter of the 1979 revolution that threw out the shah and ushered in the cleric-led government before recasting himself as a leader of the opposition in last year’s disputed presidential election.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 07/27/2010