Iran's supreme leader warns opposition, cleric

Iran's election dispute has moved to a new phase: a fight for power within the ruling religious establishment.
The conflict escalated as the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, backed by hard-line clerics and the Revolutionary Guard, issued a warning to the opposition in general and powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in particular, after a Friday prayer sermon in which Mr. Rafsanjani criticized the leadership's handling of the postelection crisis.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi yesterday made comments that appeared pointed directly at Ayatollah Khamenei: "You are facing something new: an awakened nation, a nation that has been born again, and is here to defend its achievements."
On Sunday, a leading pro-reform figure, former president Mohammad Khatami, called for a referendum on the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.
Ayatollah Khamenei has supported Mr. Ahmadinejad with unprecedented openness, and his speech yesterday suggested he was digging in against opposition demands.