TEHRAN, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani Tuesday blasted government opponents as blasphemous counter-revolutionaries.
The verbal attack accompanied pro-government demonstrations across Iran and the arrest of numerous members of the political opposition, including journalists, politicians, students and academics, Voice of America reported.
Those arrested reportedly included a brother-in-law of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and a sister of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, VOA said
Larijani said he and fellow lawmakers demand the "blasphemers and counter-revolutionaries" be arrested and be dealt harsh punishment for opposing the Islamic government led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei.
He also blamed the United States and other Western nations for fomenting the opposition. In particular, he criticized Barack Obama's comment Monday about "violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens," saying the U.S. president should, instead, address "human rights abuses by U.S. troops in Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq," VOA said.
Larijani also lambasted U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for his recent proposal to visit Iran, saying Kerry's time might be better spent putting an end to what he called the United States' duplicitous and deceitful policy toward Iran.
