Iranian authorities have called the opposition movement a tool of foreign powers trying to weaken the Islamic Republic. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his deputies have repeatedly called on protesters to put the election in the past, to little avail.
In an interview with ABC News this week, Ahmadinejad described Iran as a paragon of civil liberties.
“We have freedom in Iran,” he said. “We have more freedom than in America. People are free to speak and to demonstrate. Some people are opposed to the government. That is natural. There is no problem with it. They express their views.”
