In his first speech on national television since the presidential election on 12 June, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended the controversial ballot as the "freest" in the world, while accusing his domestic opponents of collaborating with Iran's international adversaries. Ahmadinejad said the contests were clean, fair and marked the start of a "new era."

"It was the most clean and free election in the world," he said, adding that, "no fault was discovered" during the recount. This election has doubled the dignity of the Iranian nation," he claimed. Ahmadinejad again blamed foreign powers for trying to sabotage the vote and criticized his reformist rivals for repeating remarks of Western countries. "Unfortunately, some people inside Iran collaborated with them," he said. "The result of their childish acts of interference in Iran's internal affairs is that the Iranian nation and government will enter the global stage several times more powerful," he said.

His speech came on the same day as Iran's three top reformist leaders demanded that the country's ruling clerics end the "security state" imposed after election and release those detained during post-electoral turmoil. After a meeting late Monday in Tehran, defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mahdi Karroubi, as well as former president Mohammad Khatami, warned that suppressing protest could "radicalize" the opposition movement. The remarks appeared on Moussavi's official website. The meeting of the three men – the first of its kind by top leaders in the reform movement – appeared to be part of an attempt to resurrect the opposition after the police crackdown.

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