Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei cautioned presidential hopefuls against resorting to defamation to ’prove’ themselves for the presidential post.
Addressing crowds at the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei raised the issue of character assassination in relation to the June 12 presidential election.
“It is not decent for a [presidential] hopeful to resort to slandering another candidate in a speech or a debate to prove himself,“ the leader said on Thursday, after two presidential candidates held a controversial debate late on Wednesday, Presstv reported.
The leader also called upon the nation to go to the polls in large numbers to thwart efforts aimed at portraying Iran’s elections as undemocratic, adding that all should work toward the protection of the Islamic Revolution.
Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran enjoys a democratic electoral system, which values the votes of the Iranian nation.
With only one week left before the presidential election, hopefuls are doing their best to garner support by taking part in speeches and rallies, as well as televised debates.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the last Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi held the second debate between candidates on Wednesday to defend their policies.
During the 90-minute debate, the two contenders exchanged criticism over various issues, including foreign policy and economic management.
Ahmadinejad took a swipe at two former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, accusing them of supporting Mousavi to push him out of power.
The president presented examples of mismanagement and corruption during the two presidents’ administrations.
He also said that Rafsanjani had promised the fall of the new government to Saudi Arabia after he lost the 2005 election to Ahmadinejad.
In response, Mousavi attacked Ahmadinejad of making accusations against people who were not present in the debate. He said the tactic was adopted by the incumbent president because Ahmadinejad had not found anything against him.
Mousavi questioned Ahmadinejad’s foreign and economic policies, saying that his denial of the Holocaust had resulted in dire consequences for the country.
President Ahmadinejad’s attacks were not limited to former presidents. He also accused the two other presidential hopefuls--Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi--of trying to downplay his government’s achievements, saying plots are underway to undermine his government.

US Actions
The leader added that the US administration cannot bring about changes by paying lip service.
“Creating change and a new image cannot be gained by paying lip service and mottos, but through practical moves and compensating for US injustice toward the Iranian nation and other nations in the region,“ he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments in Tehran on Thursday came only hours before the US President Barack Obama delivered his much-anticipated address to the Muslim world from Cairo.
“The previous US administration’s aggressive measures, military interventions and discriminatory actions paint an ugly picture of the US and Muslim nations deeply hate the US,“ he said.
The leader also put American accusations against Iran’s nuclear program in clear perspective by saying that the US is trying to block the Iranian nation’s legitimate right to nuclear technology by telling lies and accusing Iran of trying to make nuclear bombs.
“The Iranian nation and its officials have repeatedly declared that nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s defense system and it has even been declared that using nuclear weapons is prohibited in Islam,“ he said.

The head of a United Nations team investigating possible war crimes by Israel during the Gaza war said on Thursday he is shocked by the scale of destruction in the Palestinian areas.
South African Judge Richard Goldstone spoke at the end of a four-day fact-finding trip to Gaza, during which his 15-member team interviewed dozens of witnesses and visited sites damaged in Israel’s three-week offensive against Hamas that ended Jan. 18, AP reported.
His team hoped to visit Israel and the West Bank as well, but Israel has refused to cooperate, citing alleged anti-Israel bias by the UN Human Rights Council, the probe’s sponsor.
Goldstone said he hoped Israel’s refusal would not weaken the final report, due in early September, adding that it would not keep the team from investigating allegations against both sides.
“If we haven’t dealt with facts that Israel would like us to deal with, I think we can hardly be blamed for that,“ he said.
The team announced on Thursday that it will hold public hearings with the war’s victims later this month in Gaza and Geneva.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said he did not anticipate a change in Israel’s stand toward the investigation or the Human Rights Council, which has a record of criticizing Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians.
“They should call us the day the Human Rights Council decides on a human rights inquiry on some other place around the globe,“ he said, mentioning Darfur and Sri Lanka. “After that, we may start to be convinced that they are not singling out Israel.“
Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups began calling for war crimes investigations soon after the 22-day war ended in January.
Israeli launched the war on the pretext of stopping rockets fired on Israeli towns from Gaza.
Palestinian human rights groups say more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, most of them civilians. Israel says around 1,100 Gazans were killed and that most were militants. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said western liberal democracy has given rise to devastating consequences worldwide, calling it ’barbaric’.
In bold remarks on Wednesday, President Ahmadinejad challenged the bedrock of liberalism and said it runs counter to the core principles of justice and impartiality.
“From the very beginning, liberal democracy gave rise to political and moral consequences throughout the world,“ the president was quoted as saying by Presstv.
“First and most importantly, it blocked public participation in political decision-making,“ he said, adding that liberalism is opposed to human rights and justice.
The Iranian president explained that liberalism destroys “human values and dignity“, and therefore cannot help resolve global issues.
“Under the banner of liberalism, many have committed barbaric acts and crimes against humanity without facing any kind of punishment,“ he said.
President Ahmadinejad cited Israel’s efforts to justify its deadly war on Gaza by calling it ’self-defense’ as an example of “destructive liberalism“.
“Western liberalism has most evidently reached its end,“ said Ahmadinejad, who is seeking another four years of presidency in the June 12 elections.
The incumbent Iranian president will be challenged by three political heavyweights, namely Mir Hossein Mousavi, the last Iranian prime minister, Mehdi Karroubi, a former parliament speaker, and Mohsen Rezaei, a former senior military commander.