supreme leader reverses again

In a not unexpected move (given the fact that most analysts believed his earlier conciliatory offer of a partial recount was primarily a bid to buy time and hope the opposition cools off), Khamanei reversed his position again in a speech delivered at Friday Prayers at Tehran University. He declared that:

The Islamic state would not cheat and would not betray the vote of the people. The legal mechanism for elections would not allow any cheating.

So much for that whole partial recount thing. Of course, there was no way that any "partial recount" could have made a dent in Ahmadinejad's alleged 11 million margin of victory over Mousavi regardless.

On a more worrisome (but still not altogether surprising) note, Khamanei also made a not-so-veiled threat of violence against protesters by stating that opposition leaders would be "responsible for bloodshed and chaos."

The questions that now remain are whether Mousavi and his supporters will step down (given the extent and tenure of the protests this would seem unlikely) and how much violence the Iranian government is prepared to implement. After all, government violence against protesters might not necessarily have the desired result (forcing the opposition to step down). And it will certainly allow for more of those pesky comparisons to the policies of the Shah.