Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi appeared to urge his supporters on Saturday to take part in rallies on November 4 marking the 30th anniversary of the student seizure of the US embassy in Tehran. If they gather in the streets on Wednesday, there may be clashes with police and government backers, as happened at annual demonstrations in Iran in support of the Palestinians on September 18.
In a statement posted on his www.kaleme.com website, Mousavi said he would press ahead with his efforts for political change in Iran following its disputed election in June, which he says was rigged in favour of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Apart from sporadic incidents, the streets of Tehran have returned to normal since the poll sparked Iran's worst street unrest since the Islamic revolution three decades ago. Referring to the Iranian date of the take-over of the US embassy in 1979, Mousavi said.
"The 13th of Aban is a ... rendezvous so we would remember anew that among us it is the people who are the leaders." He said: "Our 'green path' is a rational one and a bearer of good news since it shows that we will stand firm on our demands." Green was the colour of Mousavi's election campaign. "Sooner or later ... the people's opponents will be leaving the scene. But does it mean a devastated country will have to remain for the nation on that day?" he added.
Anti-Western rallies usually take place outside the old US embassy to mark the day in 1979 when radical students scaled its walls and took 52 Americans hostage, holding them for 444 days. Washington cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980. Some reformist websites have called on people to gather outside the Russian embassy instead, in an apparent protest at Moscow's swift recognition of Ahmadinejad's election victory. Iranian security officials have ordered the opposition not to hold demonstrations on that day.