Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has given a sermon at Friday prayers today, after the State Media of Iran has constantly begged and pleaded for people from around the country to come to the University of Tehran and show their backing for Khamenei. The government of Iran even provided the busses to bring people in from outlying areas in order to make it look as though there was a great groundswell of support for Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad.
Reports from BBC say that Mir Hossein Mousavi has asked his supporters to call off rallies planned for Friday due to Khamenei's address and to resume rallies on Saturday.
The question on the minds of the Iranian people prior to Ayatollah Khamenei's address was whether the Supreme Leader would strike a conciliatory tone or if the tone would be more of a warning that a crack down on protesters was in the near future.
This was Khamenei's first public appearance since the election last Friday and is considered to be very unusual, as he normally only addresses the Iranian people on the last day of Ramadan or on special anniversaries tied to the Islamic Revolution.
From Al Jazeera:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has said that the country needs "peace and tranquility" following days of protests over a disputed presidential election.
Delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at Tehran University, Khamenei called on Iranians to keep true to their faith in order not to "go awry".
"When you have peace of mind and soul you can decide wisely ... Today our society is in need of peace and tranquility," he said.
"Since of the beginning of the Islamic revolution, thirty years ago ... various incidents [occurred], some of which could have toppled the establishment, which could have brought turmoil to the nation, as you have seen in other nations.
snip
Khamenei said that "great accomplishment" of the 85 per cent turnout at the polls conveyed the legitimacy of the country's leadership and "people's solidarity with their establishment."
"If people do not feel free they will not attend the voting stations, trusting the Islamic establishment was evident in this vote."
Khamenei said that foreign media was trying to say that the poll was a fight between inside and outside the establishment, which he denied, saying, "It is only differences of opinion within the establishment."
"The enemies know that with out confidence there would be low turnout. When there is low turnout then the legitimacy would be in doubt. That is what the enemy wants."
It would seem that Khamenei chose to be neither reconcilatory or to crack down on protesters in his address, but to only call for calm and go into a discussion of outside forces (see: enemies) that doubted the legitimacy of the election outcome.
In my uninformed opinion, I cannot see how this helps his or Ahmadinejad's cause in any way. Skirting over the main issue certainly wouldn't set well here so I would guess it is going over like a lead balloon with Iranian's as well.
UPDATE:
h/t to lizard people
From Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic there are a list of Tweet's coming in from Iranians that do not make me feel good. It looks like the crackdown is what is coming. BBC also mentions that Khamenei has said that the election was fair and not tamperd with.
Andrew Sullivan
BBC
UPDATE 2:
Most definately a crackdown. Khamenei warns that protests must END!
Ayatollah backs election result
Perhaps what surprised me most was the tenor of the speech. Ever an optimist, I look for the good in things, yet in this case the speech started out on an even keel and then turned at a point into a diatribe against everything and everyone. Nothing good there, and nothing good can possibly come from it.