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PDFOpposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi today opposed further sanctions against Iran, claiming that they would harm the people and the nascent opposition rather than the regime.
“These sanctions would not be against a government but the people who have already been agonized by this government,” he said in a statement carried on reformist websites.
He suggested that sanctions would undermine the Green opposition that has emerged since the fraudulent June 12 presidential election, implicitly conceding the fragility of a movement that continues to press for reform, although government repression has hindered its ability to mobilize more than episodically.
“The latest protest rallies showed that the opposition network is like a baby which is rapidly growing and will soon also learn to speak and become mature,” Mousavi said. He also called on his supporters to avoid radical measures which could damage the opposition.
Regime hardliners are trying to undermine the reformist opposition, claiming that they are mercenaries of Western powers bent on organizing a soft or velvet revolution against the Islamic Republic.
“The U.S. has put on its agenda three issues for the soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic, including attraction, employment, and coercion,” said Basij forces commander Hojjatoleslam Hossein Taeb last week.
