[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
[00:08.32]Iran's top leader has demanded a stop 
[00:12.41]to protests over the disputed presidential election.
[00:17.21](SOUND)
[00:29.61]Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke at Tehran University 
[00:33.69]to a huge crowd for Friday prayers. 
[00:37.09]It was his first speech since last Friday's election. 
[00:42.28]"The result of the election comes from 
[00:45.61]the ballot box," he said, "not from the street."
[00:49.80]The supreme leader warned that if the unrest continues, 
[00:54.28]protest leaders will be held responsible for any violence. 
[00:59.47]At least seven protesters were killed Monday 
[01:03.55]during clashes with pro-government militia.
[01:07.39]Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic 
[01:12.31]would not cheat or betray the vote of the people. 
[01:16.64]He said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 
[01:21.31]by eleven million votes. With that big a difference, 
[01:26.66]he said, how could there have been cheating?
[01:29.94]He denounced what he called interference 
[01:33.19]by foreign powers. The crowd shouted 
[01:36.52]"death to America" and "death to Britain."
[01:40.90]The speech followed days of protests 
[01:44.20]by hundreds of thousands of supporters 
[01:47.28]of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
[01:51.32](SOUND)
[01:58.39]The protests in Tehran and other cities 
[02:01.72]have been the worst unrest in Iran 
[02:05.22]since the Islamic revolution thirty years ago.
[02:09.30]Iran's Guardian Council -- which supervises elections
[02:15.12] -- has offered to recount some votes 
[02:18.55]and investigate complaints of wrongdoing.
[02:22.24]But the government this week arrested 
[02:25.92]many opposition members, 
[02:28.56]activists and journalists. On Friday, 
[02:33.19]European Union leaders urged the government 
[02:36.67]to permit all citizens the right to assemble 
[02:40.40]and express themselves peacefully.
[02:43.93]Iran banned foreign media coverage of the protests. 
[02:49.22]News agencies have depended heavily on information 
[02:54.36]and images sent by Iranians using social media 
[02:59.93]like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 
[03:04.55]Young people especially are finding ways 
[03:07.76]to get around Internet blocking.
[03:11.10]On Friday, Facebook announced it is making its Web site 
[03:16.12]available in the Farsi language. 
[03:19.36]Google also has a new Farsi translating tool. 
[03:24.93]And Twitter, at the request of the State Department, 
[03:29.41]delayed a planned shutdown of its service for maintenance.
[03:34.34]But American officials deny interfering 
[03:38.77]in Iran's election process. President Obama said 
[03:44.56]Monday that he was deeply troubled by the violence. 
[03:49.24]But he also says it is up to Iranians to decide 
[03:54.91]who their leaders will be. He has not stepped back 
[04:00.43]from his policy of seeking to work with Iran 
[04:04.42]after thirty years without diplomatic ties.
[04:08.71]Some say he is being realistic. 
[04:12.04]Others say he should forcefully denounce the election.
[04:16.97]On Friday the House of Representatives 
[04:21.40]passed a resolution expressing support for 
[04:25.23]all Iranians who value freedom, human rights 
[04:29.76]and the rule of law. The resolution condemns violence 
[04:35.20]against demonstrators and the suppression of Internet 
[04:39.59]and cellphone communication.
[04:42.48]And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, 
[04:48.54]written by Brianna Blake.  I'm Steve Ember.